


Agent Haddock: The Omega

by nightfurygal



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Crime AU, F.B.I, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-11-05 14:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17920241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightfurygal/pseuds/nightfurygal
Summary: Henry "Hiccup" Haddock is straight out of the F.B.I training academy. When his team is assigned to a case involving mysterious disappearances of young women, they must make a very crucial decision on what's more important: Following protocol, or saving helpless victims from a ruthless organization of human traffickers. (CURRENTLY ON HIATUS, WILL CONTINUE!)





	1. Prologue

“The first body was found by a back road division east of Highway 99, three miles from the southern city limits.”

The powerpoint flickered to a screenshot mapping the area in question, a red bubble circled the point in which the Director was addressing. “Found by a couple of unfortunate tourists just trying to find a fast way to the nearest burger joint. The victim was wearing a dark green hoodie with black pants, pretty hard to spot if you weren’t paying much attention. Recent rainfall sped up the decomposition process quite heavily, making the scene even harder to scout for evidence that usual.”

With that the projection changed once again, this time to an image depicting the scene of the crime in somewhat grainy quality. A young woman lie facedown in a muddy ditch, her bluish-pale face visible only from one side; fluorescent police lights illuminated the background of the image, causing the already dark room they sat in to turn an almost demonic reddish color.

“An autopsy performed the next morning ruled the cause of death a cervical fracture, most likely occurring due to a traumatic blow from a metal object. Several lacerations were found along the victim’s back and shoulders, one in particular on the right shoulder blade depicting the initials D.A.” The slideshow continued, exposing official images from the autopsy. The carved initials appeared almost menacingly deeper than the rest of the cuts. “The report confirms the lacerations were made before death.

The second body was discovered almost 2 weeks after the D.A. murder went public, this time found along the northeastern city limits; found by law enforcement themselves in fact. The mother of the victim had reported her missing in the general area, being a minor meant the process went much faster, but unfortunately not fast enough. The 17 year old was found by the sniffer dogs in an abandoned house, just a couple miles away from the last live sighting of the victim. The autopsy results were a bit less forgiving towards this young lady.”

There was uncomfortable shifting in the room when the autopsy images were displayed.

“The cause of death was determined a strangling, as you can see, the lacerations of the back flesh were considerably deeper this time around.” The initials had changed from the first victim’s deep crimson color, to jet black slices still lining the shoulder blade. “It is believed our guy decided to cauterize the initials as he was cutting them into this girl, a heated knife is the suspected weapon.

The final body was found under much different circumstances, this time in an alleyway among the downtown area. The victim was a middle-aged male. Cause of death was the easiest to determine out of the three, several stab wounds in the abdomen meant the victim suffered severe blood loss before death. Although the lacerations, along with the initials along the right shoulder blade remained. This would be the final death in the D.A. strand of murders.”

As the slideshow ended with the male’s autopsy photos, the lights in the room were turned on, dimming the projection. Hiccup immediately rubbed his eyes in an attempt to make them adjust a bit quicker, before glancing around the near-barren room at the small group of officials staring at him. He then looked to the Director, Mr. Oswald, in the front corner. The gray streaks in his short, dark hair and well-kept beard were more vibrant in the harsh fluorescent light. His dark suit contrasted the beige drywall behind him in an almost unsettling manner. Oswald then turned the projector off with the remote he carried, he spoke as he leisurely began to step towards the table Hiccup was stationed at.

“Well Mr. Haddock,” Oswald began, stopping about a foot in front of the opposing man. “Fill in the blanks.”

Hiccup leaned back in his chair a bit, eyes meeting the grayish metal of the table before him. Studying how the ceiling lights reflected almost perfectly compared to the actual source; all the while attempting to simply get his thoughts in order. The story clicked into place within his mind and he looked up to meet Mr. Oswald’s soft blue, but somewhat intimidating eyes.

“He was arrogant. He didn’t start out that way, but after the initial taste for blood was quenched, he craved more, and he wanted to be stylistic about it. Hence the lacerations and letters.”

Hiccup then leaned forward and rested his arms on the surface in front of him, the metal chilling his skin even through his long-sleeved dress shirt.

“Over 70% of serial killers’ first homicides involve someone they shared a relationship with, however small the interactions they have may be. He probably knew these statistics, so he dumped victim 1’s body in the most conventional place he could find. Somewhere far away from where the murder took place. Victim 1’s name was Mary Retner, a college student attending SSC and living in an apartment not far from campus. Which is why the next victim popped up on the other end of the city.

He likely didn’t know her, Irene Westmore was a high school senior who always went jogging before her morning classes. She was last seen on the edge of her neighborhood, where our guy spotted her before making the abduction. He then took her to the abandoned house he had scouted, before mutilating her flesh best he could while she could still feel it. He left her body so close to home because he wanted people to know what he was capable of.” Hiccup eyed the other members of the room as he continued speaking, “He wanted people to know they weren’t safe.”

“So why the change of pace?” Mr. Oswald asked, folding his arms in front of him. “What made Victim 3 so different?”

Hiccup looked back to the man before him. “Our killer didn’t have a preference for any specific type of person, he wanted people to know that he would go after anyone. So his target changed. Michael Dell was a man who regularly commuted by foot, often in the evening. This gave him ample opportunity for abduction, but he didn’t want to go about it the same as the previous two. Michael was either forced, or possibly lured into the alleyway before being stabbed repeatedly. Our killer then made the lacerations, the only one of the three to be performed after death. Some think he was trying to confuse law enforcement, possibly staging the crime to look like a sloppy copycat. But he never did anything unintentionally. Anything.”

Oswald eyed him a bit more, before continuing with the questions, “Why was this the final murder?”

“Formally speaking, karma killed his ass before he could commit any more.” Hiccup stated with a bit more sturdiness in his voice, confident with his profile so far. “Larry Emerson was killed after being struck by a drunk driver the month following Michael’s death. After all the publicity the D.A. Killer received, the coroner was pretty quick to spot an odd looking scar on Larry’ s right heel. It looked like the letters were carved into his foot at a pretty young age, meaning he was holding back for God knows how many years.

Police raided his apartment after they got the information. An apartment that just so happened to be in the same complex as Mary’s, our first victim. It was speculated he kept some kind of record regarding his killings, and the speculation was true. Police found a journal depicting the murders in pristine detail, all the while pentagrams and inverted crosses lined the pages. That’s when they finally found out what the initials meant.”

Hiccup couldn’t help the proud feeling blossoming in his chest as he gave his final statement, “The Devil’s Associate murders took place from March to April 1989, before our killer was met with a sudden, and in my opinion, justified end.”

Mr. Oswald gave a bit of a side smile before turning to the other officials in the room, which consisted of three other burly men in suits. They nodded lightly, but all barred a similar, uninterested expression.

“Not bad, Haddock. I see you’ve been doing your reading.”

oOo

Hiccup stepped into the warmly lit hallway, allowing himself to release a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding as the heavy door closed behind him. He’d been warned something like that would happen eventually. Rumor among new agents was that the head of the branch, Mr. Oswald, liked to take in new hires straight from the academy and test their knowledge. Usually over local crime history, mixed in with giving a clear profile of the suspect. Although, he’d been told it would be a while before he was tested, if he was tested at all. Needless to say, Hiccup wasn’t expecting a pop quiz his third day in the branch.

As he walked down the quiet hallway towards the elevator, he took notice of all the framed portraits of officials along the wall. Their names, ranks, and memorable cases they’d contributed to. Hiccup smiled, after four years of University, and months at the FBI training academy, he’d made it. It felt pretty awesome.

Stepping into the elevator, he glanced down the hallway once more, looking at the rows of photos and wondering if he’d ever make it to such a memorable place.

The lower floors though, were a bit less inspirational. Stepping into yet another hallway, professional-looking individuals in pantsuits and armfulls of paperwork scurried around him. He could hear the distant ringing of office phones and copiers echoing down the hall. Eventually he made it back to his cubicle, he sighed at the large stack of paperwork that had been dropped on his desk while he was away. He dramatically sat down and began to shuffle through the folders.

“Hey, muttonhead-”

Thwack

A wooden pencil bounced off his head and landed on the files in front of him. Hiccup tensed his neck and shoulders as it struck, before looking upwards with an annoyed glare at the culprit.

“They done pimping you? Bet you totally choked.” Snotlout said with a smug grin on his face, not very visible considering his head was barely stretching above the cubicle wall.

“They..uh, weren’t pimping me.” Hiccup replied, trying his best to sound uninterested in the irritating man.

“I told you it would happen! Really soon though, honestly, I was surprised at first. They probably just figured it’s best to size you up soon as possible,” He laughed, “I mean if I hired someone as scrawny as you I’d be sure he had at least something going on between his ears; what else would he be good for?”

“Snotlout, it’s funny hearing someone make appearance jokes when the person talking is so short they have to kneel on their desk just to see over the cubicle wall.” Hiccup heard Fishlegs mention in space to the right of him. Though he couldn’t see the large man’s face, he knew a smirk was plastered across it.

“Ah-ha, very funny Fishface. But I’m not the fresh meat around here, your time’s probably coming soon you know.” Snotlout mocked, “Do well under pressure?”

“Snotlout knock it off. You’ve only been here a month, who are you to talk?” Hiccup asked, glancing upwards once more. Snotlout scoffed.

“How do you even know that?”

“People around here like to talk about the days they could come to work without their migraine medication.” Hiccup said, an unamused frown still sculpting his face.

Snotlout growled a bit before lowering himself back to his desk, making a loud plop when he hit the chair.

“Just saying little Hic-cup,” Snotlout intentionally choked on the word. “Around here there are alphas among a sea of omegas, I think we know which one you are.”

Hiccup shook his head, ignoring the sly comment and trying to get back into his paperwork. Before he saw Fishlegs roll his chair from behind to cubicle wall in his peripheral vision.

“Don’t listen to him Hiccup, you were the top of our class back at the academy!” Fishlegs projected the last part a bit louder, intent on Snotlout hearing. Hiccup continued staring at his papers when he spoke.

“We didn’t go through twenty weeks of hell to do paperwork all day, Fishlegs. I-I don’t know,” Hiccup brushed a hand through his messy hair, “What if it’s like this forever?”

“Hiccup, it’s been three days. Give it time, everyone has to start somewhere.” Fishlegs then rolled back behind the light gray wall.

Hiccup looked around him, all the bustling people carrying case files and minute crime reports. Running everywhere, going nowhere. A large window along the far wall exposed the dark outline of the building parallel to them. As droplets of rain visibly hitting the thick glass, Hiccup’s mind began to wander. He imagined himself out in the field, solving real crimes, helping real people.

His mind flickered back to the gruesome autopsy photos that displayed not twenty minutes prior. Bad people were out there, “humans” that wanted to see the world burn, and he’d sworn to protect as many people as he could. He’d be damned if he wouldn’t do so. A slight smile formed on his lips as the proud feeling from earlier returned once more.

F.B.I Agent Haddock.

Maybe Fishlegs was right.


	2. An Unexpected Visit

Hiccup returned to his desk without much conscious thought, setting down his styrofoam cup filled with bitterly tasteless coffee carefully. He jiggled his mouse to wake the sleeping monitor before him, instinctually moving it to check his emails, flooded with junk mail and changing weather reports, he was sure. It _was_ Seattle for God’s sake.

Six months at the bureau had proven to move at a snail’s pace, each day appearing to go on even longer than the last. The people themselves now seemed to move in slow motion as they navigated through the endless hallways and office spaces. Hiccup tried his best to remain optimistic, after hearing stories of workers losing their minds over solving even cold case files, there was something to be said about their conditions. Monotony was something Hiccup was no stranger to, living in the same city for his entire life was enough to prove that. But the yearn to do more, accomplish greater things, always stayed.

Nothing to report from the long list of useless emails, shocking. Hiccup then took out the dated case file he’d been assigned to, something involving a man’s premeditated murder of his wife and step-child that went awry about fifteen years ago. He was deemed a suspect from the beginning and all the way up until he was proven guilty a few months later. The guy was now facing the possibility of parole due to recent surfaced evidence, and Hiccup’s job was to be a name on a list of officials who claimed they reviewed the original file.

He was usually given assignments similar to this, although reading case files was something that had always peaked his interest, even his morbid curiosity was beginning to fall flat and accustomed to the documented accounts. Eventually the work day, just like many others before it, came to a desired end.

“If you ladies will excuse me, I’m off to Johann’s. I would ask you to join,” He heard Snotlout say as he stepped into view, sliding on his dark rain jacket. “But I wouldn’t want to keep you from your precious kitty.” Snotlout laughed as he walked away, Hiccup rolled his eyes.

He’d made the mistake of leaving his phone face-up on his desk once while taking a bathroom break, when he got a notification and the screen turned on, Snotlout happened to be walking past it. So what if his lock-screen was a picture of Toothless, sleeping in an absurd position even for a cat? It made him laugh. And of course, like most things, Snotlout wouldn’t let it go. Making an obscene and unnecessary amount of ‘pussy’ jokes any chance he could get.

“What’s the big deal with Johann’s anyways? Who wants overpriced liquor and drunk assholes stumbling around you after a day at work?” Fishlegs said as he stepped around the corner of his cubicle, briefcase in hand.

“I guess when _you’re_ the drunk asshole you don’t think too hard about it.”

Fishlegs chuckled at Hiccup’s response, before saying a goodbye and began walking out of the office space himself. Within a few minutes Hiccup had collected his things and began to head in the same direction. As he reached the ground floor and rounded the corner to the lobby, he ran straight into an unsuspecting woman, their collision causing the files in his hand to scatter on the floor, drawing the attention of a few fellow employees leaving the building.

“Watch it!” He heard the woman say as she continued walking, Hiccup briefly glared in her direction before kneeling down to collect his papers.

“Sorry, God..” Hiccup audibly mumbled. After a few seconds he heard a defeated sigh come from behind him, then footsteps headed his direction.

“Here, let me help you.”

Hiccup looked upwards towards the speaker, it was the woman he’d collided with, she knelt down alongside him and assisted gathering the files. With her being so close, Hiccup could get a better look at her appearance. She had long blonde hair that was braided down the back, with long side swept bangs, partially covering her face. Even through her thick raincoat Hiccup could tell she was very slim, and the warm lighting of the lobby accented the light freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks. She finished collecting the files and handed the pile to him, her large blue eyes meeting his. Hiccup hesitantly took them from her.

“Uhh, thank you.” He said standing, she followed suit.

“No problem, umm,” Her eyes glanced behind him down the large corridor that led to countless elevators and hallways. “Do you know where Mr. Oswald’s office is?” Hiccup was drawn back a bit by her question, there was a swift beat before he answered.

“Seventh floor, a room on the right I believe.”

“Thanks.” She nodded her head slightly with her statement before disappearing down the hall. Hiccup glanced in her direction one last time, before finally making his way out of the building and into the rainy streets of Seattle.

oOo

As Hiccup turned onto his street, he noticed the old, faded green Dodge pickup stationed in his driveway. He sighed.

_‘Had to show up eventually.’_ He thought.

He pulled into the remaining spot in his driveway, before getting out and rushing to his small porch out of the rain. Opening the door and quickly closing it behind him, he removed his wet shoes and raincoat, putting them in their respectful places.

_Meoooow_

He then looked down to see the black, fluffy noisemaker running towards his feet. He bent over and picked up the culprit.

“Hey bud,” He said rubbing the back of the cat’s neck, causing Toothless to purr loudly. “Don’t suppose you ate him for me, did you?”

“Unfortunately no, but ya’ keep feeding him the way ya’ do and he’ll likely be able to fit ma’ whole body in his stomach.”

A large, older man rounded the corner from the kitchen and stepped into the living room, parading his extreme blonde mustache and old ball cap. He was wearing a dirty mechanic’s outfit with his custom logo positioned on the left side, only part of the uniform he ever intended keeping clean.

Hiccup mocked surprise and slapped a dramatic hand to his chest, “Gobber are… are you calling my cat _fat_? I thought you were above that.” Toothless meowed in displeasure, before jumping out of Hiccup’s arms.

“And I thought _you_ were above not returning ma’ calls to check up on ya’ and make sure ya’ haven’t burned the bureau down.”

Hiccup eyed the man’s stained uniform before he spoke, “Speaking of businesses, I see yours is booming.”

“Ahh ya’ know,” Gobber started, setting his keys down on a nearby end table. “Doing as well as I can without worrying about your ass all the damn time.”

Hiccup shook his head as he moved to the couch to sit, “I’m not a little kid anymore, Gobber. Okay, I can look after myself.”

“Oh really, so everything’s going just dandy then?” Gobber asked as he took a seat on the other end of the sofa, Hiccup nearly opened his mouth to protest, with Gobber’s grease-stained outfit, but knew it was useless.

“I haven’t been assigned to any field work yet, just working all day in a tiny office space reading case files ‘till my eyes bleed, so forgive me if I’ve been a little distracted.” Hiccup replied, utilizing the armrest and rubbing the drowsiness off his face.

“It’ll happen, Henry. Ya’ should’ve seen your father after he got outta the police academy, all he wanted was to kick down doors and shoot baddies,” Gobber laughed before continuing, “They had the poor sap on parking duty for nearly a year.”

Five years ago he would’ve recoiled at the mention of his father, but now, it was actually pretty nice hearing about what his life consisted of prior to Hiccup himself.

“Look, either way,” Hiccup explained, “I was just hoping for more, you know? It feels like I’m going in circles.”

Gobber nodded slightly, before continuing, “I get it. Everyone gets down sometimes Henry. Oh, sorry, what was it they called ya’ at the academy? Hiccup?” He asked with a smug smile. Hiccup rolled his eyes.

“I got so used to people yelling it for all those weeks, I nearly forgot my actual name.” He replied, chuckling. “At least it’s not Fishlegs.”

“Right, right.” Gobber laughed, “How’s he doing anyways?”

“I think he likes the office more than he thought he would, which is good. Of course, I have to play the mother when him our _spectacular_ officemate Snotlout start going at it.”

“Snotlout?! Where do they even come up with these names?”

Hiccup laughed again, “Could be worse, I guess.”

A silence then fell upon the two men, Toothless decided to intervene by jumping onto Gobber’s lap and proudly sitting. Licking his paws as he settled down.

“Get off me ya’ needy sack of fur!” Gobber exclaimed as he pushed Toothless off the sofa, causing the cat to exclaim a loud _RAAYR_ as he landed. Hiccup ignored the exchange, deep in thought about the things Gobber had told him. Before the large man broke the silence once more.

“Ya’ know, if ya’ brought a woman back home one of these days it probably wouldn’t be so boring.”

Hiccup said nothing, just threw an annoyed glare in the man’s direction. Gobber threw up his hands in defeat.

“I’m just saying, you’re twenty-three Henr… Hiccup! Your parents were already married at your age.”

“Thank you, Gobber. You are soooo helpful.” Hiccup responded, leaning back against the cushions and staring at the ceiling. Gobber smiled and patted Hiccup’s shoulder.

“Any time lad,” Then he stood, retrieving his keys from the end table. “Welp, I should get going. Don’t wanna leave poor Grump wondering where I am. Start returning ma’ calls and I won’t have to pay anymore unexpected visits.” Gobber said opening the front door, before stopping and glancing back in. “Oh, and ya’ might want to find a better spot to hide that key.”

The house lightly shook as the door closed once more, Hiccup listened to the sound of Gobber’s truck door slamming, then his loud engine starting and eventually migrating out of earshot. He slouched forward and rested his elbows on his legs, looking around the small living room before him, getting lost in his thoughts once again.

He thought about Gobber’s words, for some reason the blonde from earlier appeared within his mind. In the hasty exchange he barely had any time to pay close attention to her features, just what he could see upon first glance. Though it was quick, he had to admit, he did think she was attractive. A spitfire, nonetheless. Her angry, intintal response to the accident had told him that much. He just found it funny, that’s the way his father would always describe his mother when Hiccup asked about her as a child. Spitfire.

It _had_ been pretty lonely these past few months... Oh, who was he kidding. The past few _years_ had been lonely.

Toothless somehow found his way back on the sofa, this time sitting beside his owner and staring up at the man. Hiccup’s thoughts were once again interrupted by the animal.

“Should’ve adopted that rottweiler from the shelter instead, _he_ would’ve eaten Gobber.” Hiccup said with a smile.

_Meow_

“Thought so.”

Hiccup went about his nightly routine, as usual. But for some odd reason, the blonde was still at the back of his mind. Why was she looking for Mr. Oswald’s office? Was there something important going on, he was just too low a rank to know about it? Probably, he supposed, but Mr. Oswald wasn’t known for keeping any secrets. Every employee he’d heard discussing the man said nothing but kind things. The thoughts would follow him as he settled into bed that night. And ashamedly, certain... feelings about the blonde woman, coincided with his loneliness would too.

oOo

As he entered the building through the extravagant front doors, Hiccup mechanically placed his soaked umbrella in it’s plastic carrying bag. Wiping any excess droplets off himself he could find, he approached the front desk and took out his badge to check in. He exchanged mutual greetings to the woman behind the counter, and waited patiently as she logged him into their system.

“Oh, Agent Haddock, right?” she asked, Hiccup nodded in slight confusion. “I’m supposed to inform you that Mr. Oswald is expecting you in his office by 9. So I’d head straight there if I were you.” She concluded with a near emotionless expression, then held out his badge to take.

Hiccup, still stunned by her words glanced at the large clock on the wall behind the front desk. 8:55.

He swiftly grabbed his badge and made it to an elevator as quickly as possible without full-on running. As he stopped at the seventh floor, he was greeted to the same hallway he’d wandered down that fateful day six months prior. Photos still lining the walls, warm light still emanating from above. He moved slowly as he looked at each sign outside the occupants’ rooms. The hallway housed pretty much every major official in the building, he kept walking until he found what he was looking for.

Executive Director Oswald.

The door was already slightly ajar, he grabbed the handle and opened it slowly. Hiccup quickly realized that Oswald was nowhere to be seen, instead, there were three chairs aligned about six feet in front of his desk, occupying each but the one in the center were..

Snotlout and Fishlegs?

The two men noticed him immediately, Snotlout twiddled with his fingers as he looked to Hiccup and laughed nervously.

“Hey! Hiccup, what brings you here? You get sent too? That’s great..” Snotlout said, brows hitched together in worry as his eyes met the ground. Fishlegs was glaring at the man in question, Hiccup felt the tension even standing in the hallway.

“Snotlout, what did you do?” Hiccup asked, anger becoming present on his face. Snotlout suddenly stopped looking concerned and sat up straight.

“I didn’t do anything alright!” He exhorted, but his composure drained a bit with his next words, “That I know anyone reported..”

Before Hiccup could announce his displeasure, a voice coming from behind caught him off guard.

“I see you all made it.”

Hiccup turned and was met with the sight of Mr. Oswald, looking rather pleased with the situation. Truth be told, Hiccup couldn’t tell how long he’d been standing there. But just as he was about to greet his boss, a figure standing a few feet behind Oswald caught his attention. Upon further investigation, it was the blonde woman Hiccup had thought so heavily about in the last 12 hours.

Oh _God_ …

“Why don’t you go have a seat Agent Haddock?” Mr. Oswald said, gesturing to the one free chair in between Snotlout and Fishlegs. Hiccup smiled nervously at the man before entering the room and following his instruction. Mr. Oswald then entered, followed by the woman, who closed the door behind her and stood next to the man at the front of the room. As per usual, Snotlout broke the silence.

“Look whatever she’s saying I did to her, it isn’t true!”

Seriously? Hiccup glared at the imbecile sitting to his right, then hesitantly looked back to his boss and the woman. She had a very stunned look on her face, which quickly dissolved into one of annoyance. Mr. Oswald stared in confusion for a few seconds before speaking.

“Umm, alright.” He then changed his posture a bit, standing up straight and looking professionally as he spoke. “Gentlemen, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here today. I don’t mean to take time from your busy schedules, but I have something very important to share with you.” He gestured to the blonde woman standing beside him. “This is Agent Hofferson, she recently transferred from Illinois, and will be assisting us on a case of the utmost importance.”

He eyed the three men for a few moments, before continuing. 

“A case I’m assigning to you three as well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just mention how much I hate writing exposition, a necessary evil I suppose. Oh, and if you were morbidly curious if there was implied masturbation in this chapter..
> 
> Yes, there was ;)


	3. This Is What You Wanted

Hiccup sat reservedly at the large wooden conference table, keeping his head low and allowing his thoughts to overtake him. His heart rate had calmed for the time being, only rising when he looked upwards toward the other attendees in the room. Snotlout sat a few seats down from him, each time Hiccup would look at him, the man would be enthusiastically texting someone; clearly excited to share the news with somebody. Fishlegs sat across from Snotlout, even from the other end of the table, Hiccup could see he was greatly trying to maintain his composure. Who could blame him? After all the time the two spent in the academy together, hearing stories from former agents that did nothing but fuel the fire of their passion. It was no secret that they’d both been wanting this for quite some time now.

Finally, Agent Hofferson sat opposite Hiccup himself. Today, she wore a light gray pantsuit, with a maroon button up underneath her sleek jacket. She said nothing to him on the walk over to the conference room, but they’d had their share of awkward eye contact. Nearly every time he looked in her direction, she was already sizing him up. Now, he tried his best to keep his eyes downward. Truth be told, he was having a difficult time looking at her without the memory of his fantasies coming forefront in his mind. Gods.. Why was he so pathetic?

“So, uhh.. Agent Hofferson,” Fishlegs started, breaking the silence. The woman turned her head to him as he spoke. “What made you transfer away from Illinois?”

She glanced downward towards the wood table in front of her for a few moments. “I.. Had a few issues with the branch I was at.” She hesitantly responded. “Chicago isn’t exactly known for its hospitality, after all.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure you’ll love it here.” Fishlegs responded with a smile.

“Well, that’s nice to hear. Thank you, Agent...umm-”

“Ingerman, Justin” 

“Ah, and you are?” She looked to Snotlout, which was enough to finally catch his attention. He slid his phone into his jacket before speaking, wearing the usual smug expression that was so, very Snotlout.

“Scott Jorgenson, field agent.” He replied with a wink, drawing a disgusted expression from Agent Hofferson.

“Yeah, as of today.”

Heads turned to Hiccup, Snotlout scowling at his comment. Agent Hofferson looked him over before speaking.

“And your name?”

“Haddock.”

“I believe we’ve met, haven’t we?” The corners of her mouth turned upwards into a slight smile, but a judgemental expression sculpted her features. “Drop any more files this morning?”

His brows narrowed, but he exhausted a chuckle. “Not without your assistance.”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Snotlout asked pointing back and forth between the couple, before throwing his hands in the air. “No one tells me anything!”

“I wouldn’t say we  _ know _ each other, just ran into one another as Agent Haddock was leaving last night.” Hofferson’s smug grin returned as she looked to Hiccup. “Literally.”

Before Hiccup could respond, the door swung open, Mr. Oswald entered the large conference room with a small collection of folders tucked in his arm.

“Alright everyone,” The man said as he passed a folder to each member of the table. “We’re looking at a missing persons report, possibly linked to kidnapping, but too little information to tell.”

Hiccup opened the folder to see a large school photo of a young red-headed girl. Her bright blue eyes illuminated the picture, and freckles dotted all across her slender face. She looked to be late teens, but the hints of maturity in her features were small.

“Debbie Stirling, a junior at Bellevue High School. 17 years old.” Mr. Oswald moved to the front of the table as he continued. “Last seen by her mother, leaving her house around seven at night last Friday, driving a white 2003 Chrysler Sebring registered in her mother’s name. Officially reported missing yesterday morning, with the weekend the window the police contacted us immediately."

Oswald went on to discuss more details of the girl while the agents read on. Looking for specifics in whatever they could, but the file was small, data only filtering in through what the police had already gathered.

“I’m assigning each of you specific portions of the procedures, and hopefully, with all of you putting your heads together, you’ll be able to come up with something the police haven’t.” Oswald stated, picking up the legal pad he’d kept on the table and glancing at it.

“Agent Ingerman, I’m putting you in charge of retrieving the data from Stirling’s laptop taken as evidence. I want every inch of data searched with a fine-tooth comb, the mother claimed she went through the recent messages and couldn’t find anything, but the forensic team lifted the computer before anything else was discovered.” Fishlegs nodded briefly in response.

“Agent Jorgenson, you’ll be in charge of retracing Stirling’s last known steps. We have a list of all the cell towers that pinged her mobile phone before it went completely inactive Friday night. Follow the trail and get all the surveillance footage you can from the shops and stations in the general area. Send the footage to the forensic offices so they can start skimming for that Sebring.” Mr. Oswald then looked between Agents Hofferson and Haddock.

“As for you two, I’m sending you both out to Stirling’s house for an evaluation of the family members. Hofferson, use that psychology degree of yours to your advantage here, from what the police have said, this could be a very interesting household. Take note of everything the mother tells you, don’t leave anything out. Haddock, take a forensic kit and go through as much as you can in Stirling’s room. Look at her personal calendars, notebooks, anything that may give us leeway to where she might be.”

Oswald leaned forward on the table, making as much eye contact with the Agents as possible, expressing the seriousness that suddenly took his voice as well, “She’s four days gone at this point, I know you all are fully aware of the statistics. Seventy-five percent of children abducted are dead within the first three hours,” He took a deep, sorrowful breath before continuing, “I know you’re all fairly new at this, but I want you to be aware that at this point we’re likely searching for a body, not a teenaged girl.”

Hiccup’s throat tightened a bit, the initial excitement that filled him had quickly evaporated. The weight of the situation he was facing became apparent then, not that it wasn’t before, it was just easier to accept the eagerness and deny the dread of his career than vice-versa.

‘ _ This is what you wanted...’ _ He thought, although the anxiousness that had long since dissipated since his academy days was slowly beginning to reappear.

Fishlegs went downstairs to the forensic offices to begin his technological searches, while Hiccup, Snotlout, and Agent Hofferson were issued temporary FBI jackets. It wasn’t until Mr. Oswald had slipped away while the three were making their way to the parking garage that Snotlout finally spoke up.

“Why do  _ I  _ have to be the one to go on a stupid surveillance run? Isn’t that what trainees are for?”

“Snotlout, I hate to break it to you, but we’re the closest thing to trainees this department has.” Hiccup spoke up, the usual sarcastic tone in his voice was very prevalent.

“Speak for yourself.” Hofferson mumbled.

Both men looked to the Agent, her eyes were forward and her face expressionless, aside from a subtle, focused complexion that emanated her features. As they reached the parking garage, Snotlout diverged to move up the stairs to a higher level, Hiccup was about to follow before Agent Hofferson grabbed his arm.

“Let’s take mine, I’m on this floor.” She gestured to the open platform in front of her, filled to the brim with employees’ vehicles.

“Oh, yeah sure. Of course.” Hiccup let her lead as they entered, hoping he hadn’t offended her in any way, her silence wasn’t helping to soothe his fears. But the echoing patters of rain from the outside walls made him feel a little more relaxed. She led him to a navy Chevy Malibu, the horn beeped and lights flashed as she unlocked the doors from her pocket. As they both entered the vehicle, Hiccup’s anxiousness intensified as the silence engulfed them completely.

Agent Hofferson, however, gave little expression as she swiftly moved to turn on the engine, before taking the case file from the messenger bag she’d been carrying and inputted the address to her GPS. When she was done, she put her hand on the gear shift... before going completely still.

Hiccup glanced in her direction, she then sunk back in her seat a bit, then looked at him with a questioning expression.

“Snotlout?”

Hiccup was confused for a moment, before the realization hit, how odd she must’ve found the nicknames. He laughed and shook his head.

“Academy names, stuck for some reason, we all have them here.”

She huffed in revelation, then put the car in drive. “Really,” She smirked. “So what’s Ingerman’s?” Hiccup grimaced in pity before answering.

“Fishlegs. Poor guy has legs way too small for the rest of him, running in the training shorts every day didn’t help.”

She gave little reaction, but then smirked as she looked him up and down. “And yours?”

He looked downwards in mock shame, but the hints of lightness remained on his face.

“Hiccup.”

She cackled. Actually  _ cackled _ at that! Hiccup was taken aback in the moment, marveling at the first sign of true emotion he’d seen from this woman. Her laughter slowly subsided as she put the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space.

“Why is that  _ so _ fitting?” A smile still evident on her lips as she turned to look behind her. Hiccup rolled his eyes, well, since it was already out..

“The officers at the academy made us drink so much water the first day prior to the physical training that I got the hiccups.”   
  


“Damn.” She was beginning to exit the building at this point, “Well, I guess it’s better than Snotlout. How’d he get his name?”

“Don’t know actually, he graduated in an earlier class than Fishlegs and I.” Hiccup looked out the window as they finally entered the bustling streets of Seattle. “Gotta hand it to him, at least he owns it.”

Agent Hofferson hummed slightly in response. Focusing her attention on the traffic in front of her. Hiccup was too curious..

“So?”

Her azure eyes briefly glanced in his direction, but her attention was clearly elsewhere.

“Uh, so?” She responded.

“I told you my awful academy name, the least you could do is tell me your real one.”

Her hesitation was apparent, but Hiccup continued looking at her, awaiting a response. They moved to a stop at a busy intersection before she turned her head to face him, he could see the slight accent of a smile on her lips.

“Astrid.” She replied, then looked back to the road.

Hiccup smiled as he turned back to the window, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.


	4. A Mother's Love

The neighborhood was, to say the least, not what Hiccup was expecting. Bellevue was a respected high school in the city, a popular cheerleader from such didn’t exactly scream shitty home life. But the young agent was beginning to realize that naivety was an ongoing factor in his character.

The streets were lined with run-down houses, panels chipped and discolored with age. He saw through none of the windows, most were blocked off with aluminum foil. Short, chain linked fences lined most of the yards they drove by, many housing different breeds of dogs that would run around barking as the vehicle passed them. In the rainy city’s neighborhoods, it wasn’t uncommon to see individuals walking along the sidewalks, despite the weather. But the pair saw no one, streets barren like a ghost town you hear in a spooky wild-west story for children.

The unease that filled Hiccup before escalated as they pulled into a cracked driveway, arriving at their destination. The house mimicked the others, bushes that lined the edges of the home fully overgrown, making the pathway to the door almost unnoticeable. The fenced in yard had little grass, mostly mud puddles and scatters of worn childrens’ toys across the ground. No dog though, thankfully.

Astrid turned the engine off and stared in the house’s direction, taking in the surroundings much like Hiccup had been doing.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Not particularly.”

She retrieved her messenger bag from the back seat before getting out of the car, Hiccup followed suit. They cautiously made their way to the door, an unpleasant smell noticeably radiating off the house. Walking up the few concrete steps, the agents stood presentably beside each other as Hiccup moved to knock on the door.

Shuffling could be heard inside, and the sound of footsteps vibrated through the house’s hollow foundation. The heavy door opened just a few inches, locked by the security chain. A scrawny woman stood on the other side, through what the agents could see, wearing a black tank top and sweatpants. Ashy-blonde hair tied in a loose bun. If Hiccup could remember correctly from the file, the victim’s mother was somewhere in her mid-thirties, though the woman behind the door looked weary and much older. Astrid was the first to speak among the three.

“Mrs. Stirling? My name is Agent Hoff-”

“Burman.”

The woman’s voice was hoarse, but quiet. Astrid blinked a few times in confusion, the woman huffed a bit before continuing.

“ _Ms._ Burman. Divorced Debbie’s father a decade ago.”

There was a pause before Hiccup took over.

“Uh, Miss. We’re with the FBI.” Hiccup removed his credentials from his jacket pocket and held them up for the woman’s viewing. Her eyes skimmed over them as he continued. “Agents Haddock and Hofferson. We’re here to ask you a few questions.”

“I already told the police everything I know.”

Astrid had already drew a few conclusions from the little interaction the woman had shared with them. It was odd, the way she was so straight to the point. How she hadn’t even asked if anything came up regarding her daughter. Astrid decided to press further.

“The police aren’t the ones investigating your daughter’s disappearance anymore Ms. Burman. We are. And the sooner you let us in to get what we need, the sooner we find her.”

The woman eyed her for a moment, hesitation clear on her face. Then the door closed, the jingle of a chain could be heard behind it before it opened once again. Revealing her more clearly, her bones jutted out from all areas of her body and her face looked pale. In simple terms, she looked like hell.

“Well, come in then.”

The undesirable smell emanating from the house smacked them in the face as they stepped into the dingy air. Cigarette smoke, they now realized. Calling the house cluttered would be one hell of an understatement. Old mail and papers lay scattered across the end table that sat by the doorway. The living room was small, immediately beyond it was the kitchen. Houseware and empty liquor bottles strewn about like no one had tidied up in ages. Hiccup initially thought the house was in such a horrid state due to the stress of a loved one being gone, possibly taken. But Astrid knew better, it wasn’t hard for her to decipher that the nature of the house had been similar to this far before Stirling’s disappearance.

“Sit down there.”

Ms. Burman pointed to an old, rusty colored couch with a hardwood coffee table in front of it. As the agents took their seats, the woman sat opposite them on a similar colored armchair. She leaned forward lazily and retrieved a lighter from the surface of the table, scooting a well-used ashtray closer to her in the process. She pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her large, sweatpant pocket before extracting one and lighting it.

“So,” She said in between clicks of the sparking lighter. “What do you want to know? Time she left? Where she said she was going? Who she was with before it happened? Cause if you do, so would I.” She exhaled smoke as she went on. “Was at work when it happened.”

“Where do you work, Ms. Burman?” Astrid asked, taking out her small notebook and clicking her pen.

“Convenience store a couple blocks from here. Usually walk to save on gas, Debbie took the keys to the Sebring from my room.”

“You mentioned you and Mr. Stirling are long since divorced, have you or Debbie had any contact with him recently?”

The woman laughed.

“Nope, none whatsoever.”

“Do you suspect that Mr. Stirling could have something to do with her disappearance?” Astrid asked occasionally glancing upwards as she wrote. Ms. Burman took another puff before continuing.

“He’s dead, sweetheart.”

Astrid stopped writing, both agents looked up in surprise. The woman rolled her eyes a bit as she started to speak again.

“Seven years ago this November. The shithead was in prison for drug distribution, went bonkers without the juice and hung himself in the cell.”

The pair took in the information for a few moments, Astrid’s eyes narrowed as she continued.

“Did your daughter have any friends that would regularly come over, someone who may have known her plans for that night?”

Ms. Burman put her hands in the air in an exasperated manner.

“Beats me, that girl would be on her laptop so damn much she’d never even speak to me. The laptop that I’m assuming _you guys_ have in your custody.”

Astrid looked to Hiccup with a moderate scowl, then lightly gestured to the woman sitting in front of them. He understood.

“Ms. Burman, would you mind if I take a look through Debbie’s room. I need to be sure the police didn’t miss anything of value.” He asked with a sturdy tone.

“Be my guest, down that hall, last door at the end. Good luck finding anything though. That girl was as secretive as they come.”

Hiccup nodded and stood, picking up Astrid’s messenger bag in the process and making his way to the hallway. He heard Astrid continue on with her questions. There were 4 doors lining the hallway, each closed. He grabbed the knob of the farthest one and turned it slowly, pushing the door inwards and revealing a whitewashed room, filled with colorful posters and academic accents along each of the walls. The bed was in the far corner, the window above it shielded any light emanating through with dingy blinds. He flipped on the light switch to get a better view, the ceiling fan it was connected to also began rotating.

The room wasn’t particularly large, but large enough to have an in-wall closet on one side, and a desk that sat fairly close to her bed. Hiccup stepped further in, before pulling out the plastic sac containing blue latex gloves from his pocket. He opened the package and slipped them on. He walked over to the desk and studied the contents that remained. Mainly school binders and post-its. He scanned over each of them carefully, finding nothing but reminders of schoolwork and test dates. Looking through the desk drawers, he found a stack of colored folders, opening each to see the contents. But again, was left with nothing. Moving to the walled-in closet, he opened the door slowly, revealing a messy bunch of clothes both hung on the rack above and strewn along the floor. A blue and gold cheer outfit was hung away from the others. There was a small shelf in the corner that had a few pairs of shoes on each level, after brief observation, Hiccup decided to continue on.

He stepped back and did a 360 of the room once more, this time scanning the walls more carefully. One housed a small shelf that had various metals and trophies on it, along with other blue and gold school accents. Hiccup walked closer to it and studied each of the objects carefully. Most were cheerleading awards from earlier years, some going as far back as elementary school. He then noticed a small, printed photo leaning up against a trophy in the back. He studied it intently from where it sat, before slowly picking it up by the corner and looking at it closer. It was a group photo taken of the Bellevue cheer squad, the date in the bottom right confirmed it was from last year. Hiccup removed a small, air sealed bag from the kit in his pocket and carefully placed the photo inside. He then put the plastic seal gently into Astrid’s black messenger bag, being careful to avoid bending it.

As he finished putting the photo away, he heard the light creak of a door opening behind him, then little footsteps that stopped at the entrance to the room he was in. Hiccup turned to look at the source of the noise, a little girl, maybe four or five, stood in the doorway of the teenager’s room. She was wearing pink pajamas with mismatched socks, and held a small,  stuffed animal cat in her arms. Her eyes looked up to him, grey like her mother’s; yet her hair was a much more golden blonde than the woman’s, similar to Astrid’s. Hiccup blinked at her for a few moments, before smiling warmly.

“Hi there.” He said, wary not to startle her.

“Who are you?” She asked, voice small and light. Hiccup walked over to the doorway and knelt down in front of her, friendly expression still masking his features.

“My name’s Agent Haddock, what’s yours?”

“Emily.”

“That’s a pretty name, much better than mine. You know what my coworkers call me?” the girl tilted her head to the side, curiosity apparent. “Hiccup.”

Her confused expression remained, “Hiccup? That’s a weird name.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. How old are you, Emily?”

“Five.” There were a few moments of silence as the little girl studied the ground in front of her, looking shy as her eyes met his once more.

“Are you here to find Debbie?”

Hiccup’s heart dropped a bit, he tried to keep the friendly expression, but hints of sadness began to appear on his face.

“Yes I am, we’re doing all we can, I promise.” A thought made its way to the front of his mind, he hesitated before continuing. “Were you here last Friday night?”

She shook her head, “I go to my Daddy’s on the weekend.”

Hiccup was drawn back a bit, thinking about what Ms. Burman had told him earlier, but rational thought weaved its way into his mind. “Do you and Debbie have different Dads?”

The girl nodded, and Hiccup’s mind made sense of the situation. However, the sad look returned on Emily’s face.

“Please find Debbie, I really miss her.”

Hiccup gave the girl a sad smile, “I’ll do everything I can to find your sister, I promise you.” Wanting to make the situation a bit lighter, he gestured to her orange stuffed kitty. “Do you like cats?”

The girl perked up a bit and nodded.

“So do I,” Hiccup said, then reached for his phone. “Want to see mine?” He then showed her his lock screen, that ridiculous photo of a sleeping Toothless, the one Snotlout gave him so much shit over. Seeing it drew a series of giggles from the young girl.

“He looks funny.” She said flashing her adorable smile, a few baby teeth missing in the front. Hiccup smiled back and laughed a bit.

“Yeah he does, doesn’t he?” He returned the phone to his pocket, then looked back to the girl. “Hey, do you think you can tell me a secret?”

The young girl shrugged, Hiccup then looked comically over each of his shoulders, then moved a bit closer and spoke in a loud whisper. “Do you know where your sister kept her diary?”

The girl’s face lit up as she gasped, turned to look back down the hallway, then looked back at Hiccup. She held a finger to her lips and shushed him, then dropped her stuffed cat and ran around the kneeling man, into Debbie’s room. She moved to the open closet, going to the shelf full of shoes. Hiccup stood and watched as the little girl pulled a small, blue journal that was taped to the underside of a piece of wood. A place Hiccup never would’ve thought to look. She eagerly handed the book to Hiccup.

“Our secret.” He said, winking as he removed another plastic bag and placed the book inside. When it was properly put away, he heard Astrid call to him from the living room.

“Agent Haddock, we’re almost ready!”

He was about to respond as the little girl interrupted.

“Are you gonna come back?” She asked, eyes big and questioning. Hiccup smiled and bent over to shake her little hand.

“As soon as we find something.”

“Good.” She moved to the doorway and retrieved her stuffed cat, the took a few steps down the hallway to what Hiccup guessed was her room, she looked back at him before entering. “Bye Hiccup.”

“Bye Emily.” He waved as he moved past her door and back into the living room. Neither women had moved from their original spots, Hiccup returned to his seat on the couch as Astrid finished writing something on her notepad.

“Alright Ms. Burman, one last question. The elephant in the room, if you will.” Astrid stated, looking up to the woman who had an unamused expression on her face. Hiccup was amazed how much tension grew in the few moments of silence that preceded her final question. “Why the hell did you report her missing yesterday, a Monday, in case you forgot, when she was last seen on Friday?”

Ms. Burman looked anything but threatened at the agent’s criticism, moving to put out her now-stubby cigarette in the ashtray before her.

“A mother’s love is a powerful thing, don’t you know?” She smiled at Astrid before continuing. “That girl’s gone every weekend, friends’ houses, school trips. I work my ass off taking double shifts at that hellhole just to pay rent-”

“She’s your child.” Astrid cut her off, “It’s your responsibility to make sure she’s safe at all times. Now, I don’t want you thinking that I have any sort of bias against you, Ms. Burman. But with any missing persons case, especially one with as little evidence as this, we have to look at all possible suspects. I’m warning you now, that if we don’t find anything soon, there’s a possibility you’ll be deemed an arguidos.”

Ms. Burman eyed Astrid through the messy strands of hair that fell out of her bun and into her face. Then sunk back in her chair.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Perfect.” Astrid replied, clicking her pen and taking the messenger bag back from Hiccup, placing all of her items back inside. She then removed a small card from her pocket and placed it on the table in front of her. “Contact us if you need anything.”

The pair stood and made their way to the door, as the began to head outside, the woman called from her seat one final time.

“Same here, darling.”

Astrid inadvertently scowled as the door closed, separating them from the estranged woman. They walked calmly back to her car and entered, remaining silent until the doors were closed. Astrid huffed before speaking.

“What the hell was all of that?”

Hiccup shook his head, collecting his thoughts as he looked to his partner.

“I don’t know, but at least that part’s over with.”

‘How could someone act like that when their _daughter’s_ missing? It’s like she didn’t even care!” Astrid was getting heated at this point. There were a few moments of serenity as she attempted to calm down.

“The younger daughter,” Hiccup started, Astrid looked to him. “Five years old, I spoke to her. She was at her own father’s house when Stirling disappeared.” Astrid shook her head.

“When this case is over, I’m requesting background checks for that woman. Drug use, negligence, anything. No one deserves to live like that, definitely not a fucking child.” Astrid’s hands clenched the steering wheel in front of her as she spoke, her head down and eyes fixed shut. “You know what she told me when you were gone? That Debbie was nothing but a problem child, that she’s probably lying drunk at one of her boyfriend’s houses right now! What kind of sick-”

“Astrid.” Hiccup spoke calmly, putting a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. She took a few deep breaths, then looked to him, his features were soft as he spoke. “When we find her, not if, _when_ , we’ll take care of everything. I promise you.”

She lowered her head once more and nodded.

“I got her diary. There should be something in that’ll help us.” Hiccup said, this got Astrid’s attention. She quickly moved to start the car.

“We need to get back to headquarters then, add what we’ve got so far to the case file.” She went to back out of the driveway.

“We will, but first-”

Hiccup stopped her as he reached in the backseat to retrieve the messenger bag, then pulled out the cheer team photo, safely tucked in the small plastic bag.

“We need to go to Bellevue right away,” He held the photo up for Astrid’s viewing. “There are some girls we need to speak with.”


	5. An Enigma, She Is

“Well, several of the girls pictured here were seniors at the time, so you’ll have to make due with the remaining.”

The pair of agents sat opposite the desk that housed the high school’s principal, a dark-skinned woman with short, styled hair that made her appear much more official than she probably thought of herself. When the agents arrived at the high school, they expectantly got many looks from passerby students on the way to the front office. Hiccup wondered how many of them new Stirling.

The principal, Karson, was her name, had been nothing but compliant with their requests. Astrid, reading people the way she does, even saw the sadness in the woman’s eyes as she spoke of the missing student.

“Anything you could do would be of great service ma’am. We’re working with very little on our end, so anything helps.” Hiccup said gratefully. Principal Karson smiled from the seat behind her desk and stood.

“Follow me, then.”

She led them out of the annex and pointed to a small conference room, “If you two could just wait in there, we’ll send the girls your way.”

“One at a time, if you will. Easier to get details that way.” Astrid stated, turning back to look at the woman, who nodded in turn, and made her way to the front of the office. The pair entered the conference room and took appropriate seats for questioning. Astrid took out a small tape recorder and hid it from view under the flap of her bag.

One by one the girls were called into the office to speak with the agents. The questions started out simple enough, when they had seen the victim last, what was their relationship, was there anyone they knew of who would do this? At the first few girls they spoke with knew little, only what Stirling was like during cheer practice and tournaments. Apparently she was very secretive of her home life, which was something they could understand after speaking with her mother. The sixth girl, however, claimed she knew Stirling better than the others. She was a petite, hispanic girl with dark hair and eyes. Her name was Jasmine Vega, and she was more than willing to sacrifice any information.

“We had a football game last Friday, she told me she was sick and wasn’t going.” Jasmine clasped her hands on the table in front of her as she spoke, looking down at them, as if trying to conceal her emotions.

“Yes, that’s what some of the other girls said too,” Astrid leaned forward, “But she was clearly lying to get out for the night. Was there anyone she’d been speaking to lately? Maybe a boyfriend or someone she’d want to go and see that badly?”

Jasmine shook her head, “No, I mean, she never misses games! I guess, she went on a few dates with a boy named Derek about a month ago, but she said  _ he _ broke it off.”

“Does Derek go here?” Hiccup asked.

“Yeah.”

“What’s his last name? We may need to speak with him.”

“Levy, I think,” Her eyes returned to the agents. “I don’t really know him, Debbie only ever mentioned him a few times. I’m her best friend, she would’ve told me if they were anything serious.”

Astrid could see the obvious pain behind the girl’s eyes, and found herself wondering where that emotion had been when speaking to the victim’s mother.

“How long have you and Debbie been friends?”

“Since middle school,” Jasmine chuckled solemnly. “Thought I’d never make any friends, she was the popular cheerleader in our grade, but she wasn’t stuck-up. She cared about people.” Her eyes grew misty. “We were really close, I hope you guys know that if I knew anything else, I’d tell you, right?”

Hiccup gave the girl an empathetic look. “Of course we do, I promise you, we’re doing all we can to find your friend.”

Jasmine nodded, then looked downwards towards her lap, black hair obscuring her face, but Hiccup still noticed to tear rolling down her cheek.

“That’ll be all for now, thank you Ms. Vega.” Astrid said, straightening her posture. Jasmine stood and exited the room. After the agents finished interviewing the last bunch of girls, with little other information obtained, Principal Karson entered once again.

“Have you spoken to everyone you needed to?” She asked.

“Almost,” Astrid replied. “Could you call Derek Levy in to speak with us please?”

Karson, for a moment, gave a slightly confused expression. But was quick to respond.

“Of course, excuse me.” She left the room, leaving the agents alone again. Hiccup looked to Astrid, who seemed distant.

“What are you thinking?” He asked.

“She was a popular girl, everyone we interviewed talked about how many people knew  _ of  _ her, but only one seems to actually know her. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“She was probably just afraid of people knowing her personal life, I mean, you saw her conditions. I’d be secretive too.”

Astrid shook her head. “But still, no girl like that is introverted. She was obviously leaving the house to meet  _ someone _ , someone she trusted enough to skip a football game for, but someone she didn’t bother to tell her best friend about? It doesn’t make sense.”

Hiccup was about to respond, when Principal Karson opened the door.

“Sorry to inform you, Derek Levy is out sick today.”

Of course he was.

“No problem,” Astrid said, putting her remaining objects back into her bag. She then took out another small card and handed it to the woman. “Here’s our contact information, we may be back in the near future if we have any leads, but if you discover anything please don’t hesitate to contact us.”

“Of course.” Principal Karson said with a smile. The agents left the small conference room and made their way into the main hallway, catching students who were in between classes filling the space. Some stopped to ogle at the pair, no doubt gossiping about the young Debbie Stirling and her possible whereabouts. High school was definitely something Hiccup didn’t miss.

As they made it outside and approached Astrid’s car, Hiccup looked to his watch.

“After noon,” He said, then looked to Astrid. “You hungry?”

Astrid shook her head, “There’s way too much to go over, we have to get these recordings back to HQ for processing.”

Her response reminded Hiccup of one of the lessons from the academy, experienced staff would tell stories of agents neglecting personal care for the sake of their cases. Some would go days without food or taking care of themselves, focusing on the task at hand. Although it may have been a quick judgement, Hiccup could easily see Astrid being one of those agents.

“Come on, you’re new here, I can show you one of my favorite places in town. It’s on the way.” Hiccup said, stepping into the car and closing the door, Astrid did the same. “Besides,” He said reaching into her messenger bag and pulling out the plastic bag containing a small, blue book. “We need to go through this.”

Astrid sighed, then met his eyes.

“Where are we going?”

 

oOo

 

Hiccup directed her to a small cafe that was close to the department, it’s outdoor seating vacant due to the weather, but the inside had a rustic aesthetic that made Astrid feel at home. Soft music played through the overhead speakers as they sat to eat, once they were fully settled, Hiccup removed the small diary from the bag once again, opening the plastic seal. Astrid moved to take a sip of coffee, but stopped when she saw him do this.

“Shouldn’t we wait to test that for prints?” She questioned accusingly. Hiccup shook his head as he removed it.

“This thing was taped under a shelf in her closet, her… adorably nosy little sister had to tell me where it was.” He said with a smile, then looked up at her. “I’d say us finding something worthwhile in this diary, right now, is significantly more valuable than waiting to test it for prints and finding nothing.”

Astrid wore a defeated expression, then gestured towards the book. “Go on.”

Hiccup flipped open the book and moved to a spot depicted by a skinny, lime-green bookmark. The diary was surprisingly full, the earliest entry dating back nearly four years ago, but they were far between. He moved the little bookmark aside and looked to the last encrypted page, finding the date. July of this year, two months ago. He read the page over, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She was talking about summer practices and how much she disliked the coach, though eventually, something caught his eye.

“What do you see?” Astrid asked, craning her neck to look at the page from across the table. Hiccup glanced upwards at her, then got an idea.

“I’ll tell you, if you tell me why you left Chicago.”

“What?” She was stunned, brows narrowing in confusion.

“I want to get to know you, I work better with people I know.” He gave her a sly smile, but tried to retain his friendliness.

“Seriously? I already told you why I left.”

“You said you had a problem with their department, what did you mean?”

She huffed, eyes narrowing. “I’ve always hated Chicago, alright? There was nothing left for me there but family baggage and other bullshit, I wanted to get away from it all, Seattle was just far enough to do that. Happy?”

He felt sorry for her, knowing full well she wouldn’t give up personal details so easily, but through the hostility, he thought he was getting somewhere.

“Stirling mentions Derek in her last entry, back in July.” He said, turning the small book around and sliding it to her view. “He’s a football player, I guess he asked her out after one of her practices. Handsome, kind, extroverted, need I go on?”

She studied the page carefully. “This is the last entry?”

“That I could see.” There must’ve been around thirty blank pages after it, Hiccup had flipped through each one, only to find small pen streaks and a striped heart colored on the inside of the back cover.

“When we get back to the department we’ll tell Ingerman about this Derek kid, maybe he’ll be able to find something on him in Stirling’s laptop.” She said, eyes still on the small diary. Hiccup studied her features, focused, as normal. There was still something about the woman before him that he found very intriguing, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Oswald mentioned you have a psychology degree.”

“Criminal psychology, to be exact.” She replied, still looking downwards, as if trying to sound unamused.

“You read people?

“Everybody can read people, Haddock. It’s not about simply  _ looking _ at someone and gathering evidence, it’s about taking that evidence and adding it to the bigger picture.”

“Stirling’s mother?”

“Don’t even get me started.” She grumbled, visibly angry at the mention of the woman. “Let’s just say, her picture is very ugly.”

Hiccup was beginning to understand. No wonder she was so good at what she did, being an expert in how the mind works must be a pretty valuable skill when you’re trying to keep others out of your own. An enigma, she was, but unfortunately Hiccup was in the midst of solving a much more important puzzle.

“The girl from earlier, Vega, said Derek broke it off with her.” Hiccup said, Astrid finally meeting his eyes. “From everything she says in there, she was head over heels. Something bad must’ve happened.”

Astrid chuckled, “She’s a teenage girl, there’s no telling what could’ve happened between them. Which is why we need to look to this boy for answers.”

Hiccup was about to give a response, when his phone began to vibrate on the tabletop, a notification that he was getting a call from Fishlegs appeared. He reached to grab it as he heard Astrid laugh.

“Nice lock screen.”

Hiccup sneered at her for a moment before answering.

“What do you got, Fishlegs?”

“Hiccup! You and Hofferson need to come back as soon as possible.” He said, sounding exasperated.

“What’s going on?” Astrid asked, looking at Hiccup, who held up his hand as he spoke.

“Fishlegs, what happened? What did you find on Stirling’s laptop?”

“Nothing, Hiccup. Everything’s gone.”


	6. The Better Alternative

“I-I don’t understand.” Hiccup said, rubbing the bridge of his nose in confusion. He was pacing at this point, several eyes in the forensic lab were following him, one pair of which was Fishlegs, looking tired and defeated. “The data was there when you initially got access, and then what? It just vanished?”

“The system rebooted right beneath my fingertips, I-I had barely started transferring the files! When it restarted, everything was gone!”

“You’re telling me you’re some kind of expert in computer science,” Astrid started, standing beside the large man’s desk, looking just as sceptical as Hiccup. “And you can’t recover  _ anything _ ?”

“I’ve been trying all morning, others from the lab looked at it too, in case I was doing something wrong. But nothing! I called you guys as soon as I got word. But.. that’s not all.”

Hiccup stopped pacing to look at Fishlegs. Astrid’s stern look turned even more grim.

Fishlegs looked down at the laptop’s barren screen before continuing, “As soon as I was able to get the device working, I immediately went to her social media accounts, trying to find recent messages or close contacts. But, those were gone too.” He looked to Hiccup with concern. “Whoever’s responsible, deleted all of her accounts.”

“Wait, hold on.” Astrid said, holding up a hand and closing her eyes in frustration. “Did you contact the providers requesting locations?”

“Of course! But who knows how long that’ll take, if they can find anything at all.” Fishlegs’ sad expression remained as he glanced between the two other agents. “Please tell me you guys had better luck than me.”

“Not particularly, just a few names.” Hiccup said crossing his arms, trying to collect his thoughts.

“And a mother who doesn’t give a damn about her daughter being missing.” Astrid added, looking just as annoyed.

“Wait, really? What happened out there?” Fishlegs asked.

“Just a bunch of bullshit talk with no valuable information,” Astrid began. “Except for the few leads we were  _ going _ to run through her laptop, but… well, you know.”

There was momentary silence between the three agents, broken suddenly by a rather obnoxious voice that filled the room.

“If I have to talk to  _ one more _ stoned clerk, I’m quitting the FBI and moving into my Dad’s basement!”

Everyone turned to see Snotlout standing in the doorway, a rather large stack of old-looking discs and VHS tapes in his hands. He unceremoniously walked over to Fishlegs and dropped them on his desk. Fishlegs looked disgusted as he spoke next.

“Are those VHS tapes? Who even uses those anymore?”

“Cheap gas-stations who don’t want to buy real surveillance systems, so they record over the same gods-dammed tapes for twenty years straight!” Snotlout growled, clearly aggravated. “Do you have any idea how many hours of footage is on those things?! Over five hundred!”

Astrid picked up one of the tapes and studied it closely, “Do we even  _ have _ systems that’ll run these for the car?”

“Not my problem.” Snotlout remarked, throwing up his hands in defeat.

“Yes, Snotlout. It is your problem.” Hiccup started, causing the others to look in his direction. “ALL of this, is your problem.  _ Our  _ problem.” The heated tone of the room was beginning to affect Hiccup as well.

“So, I’ll take it you got nothing?” Snotlout asked, feigning amusement.

“Less than nothing,” Fishlegs grumbled, “Her entire laptop was wiped. No information.”

“You couldn’t recover it? This is the FBI for gods’ sakes!”

“I’ve been trying all morning! I can’t recover information if I have no idea why it disappeared in the first place!”

“Some first-in-class computer geek you are!”

“ _ Shut up! _ ” Astrid boomed, silencing the arguing and taking control of the situation. “This isn’t helping,  _ none _ of this helping. We are all but giving this little girl a death-sentence by going in circles like this! We’ll take these tapes to the tracking department, and figure it out from there, any objections?”

Silence.

“Good.”

She scooped up the old DVDs and tapes as orderly as she could, everyone started to leave, but Snotlout was distracted. Hiccup and Fishlegs turned to see him eyeing the laptop.

“You coming? Or-” Hiccup began, just as Snotlout cut him off.

“You guys go,” He said, picking up the device and eyeing it. “Leave this to me, I think I know someone who can help.”

“Snotlout it’s no use,” Fishlegs said. “If an FBI forensic team can’t recover the information then who can?”

“I said leave it to me!” Snotlout exclaimed, closing the laptop and tucking it under his arm. “I need to take a field trip, I’ll be back soon.”

“You realize if anything happens to that, we’ll lose our jobs, right?” Hiccup remarked snarkily. Snotlout rolled his eyes.

“Come on, you guys know you can trust me, right?” He asked, giving an innocent smile. To which the opposing two men gave little reaction, before turning and leaving the room completely.

“ _ Of course we can trust you Snotlout, you’re only the most qualified person on the case! _ ” Snotlout mocked in Hiccup’s nasally tone.

“I don’t sound like that!” He heard echo from down the hall.

oOo

Hiccup stepped into his dimly lit living room, shutting the door behind him as the wind began to blow through. He immediately went to stretch, running around the city all day had proven to be more tiresome than he originally imagined it would. His vision was a bit cloudy, feet were aching, his hair definitely needed washing after all the rainwater that had soaked into it throughout the day.

And he loved it.

He allowed himself to finally sit back and marvel at the idea of being a real field agent, and this was just day one. His first case. Being an integral part of the department was far more satisfying than he hoped it would be. He knew it was wrong to feel so joyful, while the source of the joy was a missing teenage girl, but for a brief moment, he let himself smile.

And the moment quickly evaporated at the sound of light patters across the wood floors, followed by a distracting  _ meow. _

Hiccup settled into his home as the events of the day played back through his mind. Once the field missions had been run, the crew spend the remainder of the day inputting the new information to the case file. Snotlout hadn’t returned after he left with Stirling’s laptop, and against Hiccup’s better judgement, he was happy he didn’t have to deal with the man afterwards. The surveillance videos were put into processing and wouldn’t be done until tomorrow. Oh, and Astrid and him had swapped contacts as they were leaving. At least now he could tell Gobber he got a girl’s phone number.

As he sat on the couch, Toothless purring happily in his lap, he found himself looking through the small collection of frames he had on the wall. One contained his degree, another his certificate of academy completion. Tacky, he knew, but what else was he gonna do with them? One, smaller picture showed him and Gobber at his college graduation, another was of Toothless as a kitten. A small pit of sadness grew in Hiccup’s chest as he glanced at the final picture; his father, tall and proud in his police uniform, resting on his shoulders was a young Hiccup, six years old. They were in front of his father’s police car, looking excited and joyful.

He remembered the day it was taken. It was so rare that he had a moment to enjoy time with his father, what with him taking double shifts in order to support himself and the young boy. Being a single father certainly didn’t come with many perks. Though, Gobber was always there to help, for as long as Hiccup could remember the man stood by his father’s side. Adolescence may have been a troublesome time without his mother, but his father tried,  _ really _ tried, which is all Hiccup could ever ask for.

All until his upper teen years, of course. A time he tried desperately to forget.

He shook off the memories clawing their way to the front of his mind, looking down at the creature in his lap and petting him affectionately.

“So, how was your day?”

Toothless looked up to him, large green eyes blinking with interest.

oOo

Hiccup jolted awake at the sound coming from his phone, though, it wasn’t his alarm. He looked to the nightstand with foggy eyes, the screen illuminated the still-dark room. He retrieved the object and saw the time, 5:30, the ringing emanating was from a call he was receiving. From… Astrid?

He quickly answered and brought the device to his ear.

“Astrid?” He asked, voice hoarse with sleep.

“Hiccup, they have the last location of the Sebring!”

“What? Wh-where is it?!”

“The forensic team called me just a few minutes ago, Stirling’s final cell phone ping came from a tower in Newcastle, the systems going through the surveillance footage caught her driving up to Wildland Park.”

“The forest?” Hiccup was sitting up now, heartbeat intensifying at the information. “Do they have a region?”

“Yes, but we have to leave right away!\\\ Send me your address, I’ll pick you up.”

“O-okay, um, I’ll see you in a bit.”

The call ended, leaving Hiccup a little dazed. He immediately sent his location to Astrid, as he began to dress, he got a message from the woman.

_ Be there in fifteen minutes. _

Hiccup put himself together best he could, making sure he had everything he needed when he noticed headlights pulling into his driveway. His pace quickened as he made it to the door, exiting into the morning twilight where Astrid was impatiently waiting.

He entered her car, and without any words she was reversing out of his driveway and speeding down the road once again.

“What was the time of the last spotting?” He asked a few moments later, cutting to the point.

“7:34,” She began, “Stirling’s mother told me she didn’t  _ see _ Debbie leaving the house, but saw the Sebring drive by the convenience store she works at around seven. I guess she tried calling Debbie but got no answer, hence the cell pings. Which is why seven was the last reported sighting of her in the case file. Newcastle is only a twenty minute drive, the timeline fits.”

“Assuming she didn’t make any other stops?”

“She didn’t, at least not according to the fifteen other cameras that caught her driving there.”

“Was she ever spotted leaving the region?”

“Only one way to find out.”

They drove to the neighboring side of the city and stopped at the final gas station that spotted the vehicle. By then, the sun was beginning to rise, giving Hiccup a blinding view of the vast forest that bordered the highway. They pulled into the station and parked along the outer perimeter.

“This is it.” Astrid said, taking out her phone and pulling up a video. “HQ sent me a snip from the last shot of the vehicle, it’s going.. Up there!” She pointed to a section of the highway that disappeared into the wooded area.

“Hold on,” Hiccup said, moving to Astrid’s GPS. He zoomed out of their current location until all routes from the road in question were visible. Two lead out to other sides of the forest, going back into heavily populated areas, but several others ended in the thicket, possible campsite locations or trails. “We should follow the one that goes deepest into the forest first, then backtrack.”

Astrid nodded, then pulled back onto the highway and turned off on the winding road. A large sign at the entrance read: Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

They continued on the road for around ten minutes, the winding paths led to different intersections where signs directed them to either turn off, and head back to the city, or continue on into the wilderness. Eventually, they made it to the furthest end of the road, which led to a fairly large campsite that housed RVs and old fire pits.

“We don’t even know where to start looking, how many places could a car possibly vanish out here?” Hiccup asked, eyes scanning the site.

“We’ll just have to backtrack, slowly.”

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to get the others out here? Cover more ground?”

“Like you said, we don’t even know where to start. If we call the others out here, and it turns out she doubled back to the highway, we’d just be wasting their time, time they could be spending getting  _ real _ information.”

“You don’t think it’s out here?” Hiccup asked, looking concerned now. Astrid exhaled slowly, letting her head rest against the seat.

“I think, this is our best shot.” She looked at him, then. She shared the concerned expression, but there was a hopefulness in her eyes that Hiccup had yet to see in any other circumstance.

So they began backtracking, going as slow as possible through any route accessible by car. Scanning carefully through every campsite, every offroad, and every open pathway they could see. The morning sun was higher now, making the search easier. Hiccup mentally thanked whatever God above that was responsible for withholding the rainfall that day. After an hour or so of scoping, the pair reached the final road in their search; a curved, grayish one that led to yet another picnic area/campsite. Only this one was on a steadily inclining hill, thicket remained all around them, and any glance downwards was met with a narrow, declining slope covered in trees and brush. Making anything past fifty feet nearly unviewable.

The two had remained mostly silent, focusing on their mission and scanning the areas best they could. But given the early rising hour, and the long, steady silence, Hiccup grew a bit drowsy. He reached up to rub his eyes, swiftly shaking his head to stay alert. Astrid must’ve noticed this, as she broke the long silence.

“What’s your real name?”

“Hm?” Hiccup sounded, turning to glance in her direction.

“I know they call you Hiccup, but, you never told me what your real name was.” Her eyes stayed forward, occasionally looking in different directions through the forest, but remaining narrow.

“Oh, uh, Henry. My real name’s Henry.”

She smiled, actually smiled at that. She looked at him then, eyeing him before continuing.

“It fits.” She said, then looked back to the road. Hiccup couldn’t help but smile at the little comment. It was nothing, just a simple observation. But a thought ballooned in his mind, Astrid was trained to read people. He’d been so concerned with the case over the past 24 hours, watching Astrid read Stirling’s mother, and all the young girl’s teammates, that he failed to form the idea that maybe she’d also been reading  _ him. _

Her words from yesterday echoed in his mind,  _ it’s about taking taking the evidence to form a bigger picture.  _ He wondered what she thought of his picture. He began scanning the woods once more, the idea of it all still bouncing around his mind. It was certainly something he could get used to thinking abo-

Wait..

“STOP!”

Hiccup jerked to grab Astrid’s shoulder as he yelled, the car came to a grinding halt, both agents darting forward in their seats as the seatbelts caught them. Hiccup gave no explanation, just undid his seatbelt and exited the car with furious speed, leaving the door open as he ran to the side of the road. Astrid parked the vehicle and got out herself, watching Hiccup as he studied something on the downward hillside.

“What do you see?” She asked, making her way over to him. She looked in the direction he was, but couldn’t find what caught his attention.

“How much space do you think’s between the closest trees here?” Hiccup asked, pointing to the group of wooded area in front of them. It  _ was _ a bit wider than other sections.

“I-I don’t know, maybe six feet?”

“About the width of a Sebring?”

She looked at him with questioning eyes, but he was fixated at what seemed to be a large pile of brush near the bottom of the slope.

“Stay here.” Hiccup said as he stepped off the road, and slowly made his way down the steep, brush-filled hillside.

“Be careful!” She yelled after him. Keeping his balance on whatever tree or branch happened to be near him, he slid carefully on his feet down the hill, getting closer and closer to the bottom. Eventually he made it, from what Astrid could see in her position, he was surveying the large brush pile he’d been eyeing earlier.

He moved even closer to it, taking a large, bushy branch in his hand that was on top, and pulled away with brute force. Something dark and reflective was beneath, slathered with mud that was poorly wiped away from the removal of the branch. Even from Astrid’s position above, she could tell what it was. The rear window of a car.

“Hiccup!” She yelled, cupping her hands around her mouth for emphasis. Though, it didn’t stop the opposing agent from tearing off the remaining brush piles on top of the vehicle, along with the sides. Through spots in the mud-covered exterior, it was clear the car was in fact white.

Hiccup, in his rush, finally cleared branches from the window on the passenger side. He held up a hand in Astrid’s direction, as if to let her know what he was about to do. His breathing became shaky as he wiped away as much mud from the glass as he could with his sleeve, then slowly pressed his face into the tinted window.

Astrid’s fists were balled by her sides, arms tensing in anticipation for what Hiccup would tell her next. The hopeful side of her pleaded for him to say something she wanted to hear, but the practical told her she should prepare to lose a victim.

After around ten seconds, Hiccup pulled his head away from the window and looked back up to Astrid.

“Empty!”

oOo

Astrid initially called in to the department to report what they had discovered, while Hiccup contacted the nearest police department to rope off the crime scene. Campers in the nearby lots were told to evacuate through routes opposite to the one the investigation was taking place on. Within the next half hour, police and FBI officials littered the road above the hidden vehicle; which was now being formally investigated by Oswald’s forensic team, who had attached ropes to trees lining the slope to make transportation up and down a bit faster.

“I don’t know how you saw it,” Oswald began, speaking to Hiccup and Astrid away from buzz of the crime scene. “But this changes things quite a bit.” He was avoiding eye contact with the pair, hands on his hips and looking downwards towards the grayish pavement of the road. When he did meet their eyes, they were full of sorrow, but a hit of brightness could be found. “Since she wasn’t found in the car, that leaves very few leads to where she could be now. The police are setting up a search party to survey the woods within a ten mile radius of the scene, but if I had to guess, whoever spent that much time hiding her vehicle had little intention of letting her go.” 

“We could stay and help search,” Hiccup suggested. “At least until the team’s collected any evidence from the car that we could go off of-”

“No, you guys need to head back to the department,” Oswald said, turning slightly to point in the direction of the steep hillside. “And figure out who the hell could’ve done that. I don’t care if you have a dozen names or only one, I’ll make sure the evidence is forwarded to you as soon as we collect something.”

The agents nodded in response, as Oswald turned to walk away, he stopped suddenly and looked back at them.

“I was truly afraid we’d either find nothing on this girl, or find her too late.” He said, the brightness from earlier returning to his eyes. “Believe me when I say,  _ this _ is the better alternative. I’m proud of you guys.”

With that, he turned again and continued on towards the scene. Hiccup and Astrid looked at each other then, though no words were spoken, there was no doubt a small connection they shared in that moment, one of pride at knowing they were doing exactly what they set out to do. Hiccup gave her a warm smile, she returned the gesture as a loud voice rung through the humid, morning air.

“Why’d  _ we _ miss all the fun?”

The two agents turned to see Snotlout approaching, Fishlegs a few paces behind, both newly arriving to the scene.

“What are you guys even doing here?” Hiccup asked, confused and more than a little irritated at Snotlout’s presence.

“We were notified as soon as we got to the department,” Fishlegs started, the two men stopping opposite the agents. “Snotlout drove us out here.”

“Well, you wasted your time, Oswald’s sending us back to Headquarters right away.” Astrid said, crossing her arms.

“What?! This is no fair!” Snotlout declared, exaggerating his movements. “You losers find some teen’s crashed car in the woods and all we can’t even help gather evidence?!”

“Snotlout, did you even look at the Sebring?!” Hiccup argued, raising his voice and pointing in the vehicle’s direction. “It was no accident! Someone put it there, and whoever did it made damn sure no one would see it afterwards. Do you have any idea how much mud, or how many branches were covering that thing?”

Snotlout huffed as Fishlegs butted into the argument.

“Look, we’re wasting our time out here. At least we found  _ something _ on this girl, so now we aren’t searching blindly!”

“Ingerman’s right,” Astrid began, all eyes looking to her. “Let’s just go back to the department and wait for the evidence to be collected, there’s  _ no way _ they can’t find anything in that car. Let’s not lose our heads.”

The group understood, within a few seconds they’d split up and began in the direction of their vehicles. Just then, a notification bell sounded from someone’s phone. Snotlout was quick to pull out his device and read the message he’d received.

“Hey, everyone wait!”

Hiccup and Astrid turned to look at the man, who stood still in the road between them and Fishlegs.

“What’s wrong?” Hiccup asked.

“Uhh, if you’re implying that my guys recovering some information from Stirling’s laptop is wrong, then, this!” Snotlout said with a wide grin, pointing to his phone.

“What?!” Astrid gasped, pert with attention. “But, how-”

“You two, follow Fishlegs and I!” Snotlout yelled, pointing at Hiccup and Astrid while striding to his car. “We’re taking a little detour!”


	7. Chapter 7

The four agents stood together on a sophisticated-looking front porch, lined with beautiful plants and outdoor ornaments. Snotlout ringed the doorbell a few times, and stepped back from the large maroon door. Barking from what sounded like a small dog could be heard from inside.

The neighborhood they had driven to had been quite the opposite of the one Hiccup and Astrid had visited yesterday, the one now being a peaceful suburb in a high-end division of town. Every house was at minimum two-stories and exhibited vast front yards. Though instead of short, chain linked fences, there were white pickited ones.

As Hiccup continued to observe his surroundings, the large door opened suddenly to reveal an older-looking woman, maybe in her fifties. She had grayish blonde hair tied in a low, neatly done braid with hazel eyes to match. Snotlout briefly cleared his throat before speaking.

“Good morning, Mrs. Thorston. Are the-”

“Scott!” She nearly yelled, stepping onto the porch and throwing her arms around the man in a motherly fashion. The three other agents giggled at the sight, Snotlout remained as stiff as possible, but still managing to bring his arms up and pat her on the back. She pulled away, keeping her hands on his shoulders. “How’s that big case going?” She asked enthusiastically.

Snotlout’s face was bright red at this point, somehow he managed a very hollow, fake laugh. “Oh, it’s going great… But um, confidential, top secret stuff going on.”

“Oh of course, of course.” From behind her legs, a small, curly-haired white terrier ran out onto the porch. Bypassing the other agents and running straight to Hiccup. The little dog began jumping on his leg to get his attention, to which the agent knelt down to give the creature what it desired.

“Hey little buddy.” He said, petting the dog on the head, receiving many swift licks to his hand.

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind him, he’s a little attention hog.” She said stepping back a bit further, only then seeming to notice how many agents were actually on her porch. “You must be his team! So nice to meet all of you.”

“Pleasure’s all ours, ma’am.” Hiccup said politely, standing up, then gave Snotlout a discreet smirk. Snotlout threw a glare at him over his shoulder.

“I suppose you want to see the twins?” Mrs. Thorston asked.

“Yes actually, I got a message from them saying they’d recovered some information I asked for.” Snotlout replied.

“Oh, well come on in, all of you!” She said with wide gestures, shuffling all four agents through her door. The sophisticated structure from the outside led inwards as well, the large, nicely decorated front room smelled of artificial fall scents. But fresh, nonetheless. The little dog followed them inside, then ran to his owner, who shut the door and scooped him up in her arms as she spoke.

“Well, you know where to find them.” She said, gesturing to a door down a narrow hallway.

“Thanks Mrs. T, we won’t be long.” Snotlout said.

“Oh please, take as long as you want. I’ll be up here if you guys need something.” She replied with a smile, before the agents made their way down the narrow hall, towards the white wooden door at the end.

As Snotlout opened it, the crew saw that it led downstairs into a basement. As they descended one by one, the lights grew dimmer, and the pleasant smell from upstairs faded into a… questionable one. Once they reached the bottom, they were greeted to a cluttered, living-room esque space, complete with a large TV and a long, tannish leather sofa with a lumpy blanket covering the cushions. Video game cases and consoles were littered around the TV, while old pizza and takeout boxes were scattered across the room.

Snotlout’s gentle tone from earlier had evaporated as he yelled, “Ruff! Tuff! Get your butts out here!”

_ Muuuuuhhhhh _

Everyone jumped as they heard this strange noise, eyes darting to the couch, where the lumps beneath the blanket began to move. The covers were thrown off to the side, and a scruffy, unkempt blonde man sat upwards. His long dreadlocks falling around his shoulders as he rubbed at his eyes.

Snotlout gave an exasperated sigh as he moved towards the wall and flicked on the overhead lights.

“BAHHH! Mom, come on! It’s not even noon yet!” The man on the couch exclaimed. Only to look upwards towards the group with squinted eyes, which grew large when he saw what was in front of him. “Snotman!” He said with a grin, “You made it!”

“Of course I did,” Snotlout growled, stepping closer to the couch. “ _ You _ sent me a message not thirty minutes ago telling me to come over!”

“Oh shit, did I?” The man began patting his sides and the area around him, feeling for something. A few seconds later he exuded an  _ ah-ha _ as he pulled a smartphone out from under one of the cushions. “Ha! Guess I did. Sorry dude, just dozed off. Been up all night solving crimes, busting myths, the usual.” He said with a proud grin.

“Ugh, you were up all night playing that stupid video game!” A harshly-gritty, but still slightly feminine sounding voice said.

Everyone focused on an opened door on the opposite end of the room, a woman, looking the same age as the man, walked from the dark space into the light. Upon further investigation, they looked much more similar than just their age. She wore loose pajama bottoms and a greyish-green tank top.

“With the volume on MAX, I might add!” She said, picking up an xbox controller from the couch’s end table and throwing it at her look-alike.

“Hey! It’s not as immersive if the volume’s low!”

“Muttonheads!” Snotlout exclaimed, drawing the attention of both blondes. “Do you have the information from the laptop or not?”

“Yeah, sure do. Didn’t take long to crack really,” The male said, finally standing from the sofa. There was an audible grunt of disgust from Astrid as they realized he was only wearing a white t-shirt and boxers. He had a hunch in his back as he walked closer to Snotlout. “Recovered it last night.”

“Last night?! Why didn’t you call me then?! Do you have any idea how time sensitive all of this is?”

“Woah woah woah, take it easy Snot,” He said, putting up his hands in mock-defense. “Everything you need, we got.”

“Excuse us, just a moment.” Astrid butted in, grabbing Snotlout by the shoulder and dragging him a few feet backwards into the group. There was anger in her voice as she whispered only loud enough for the four of them to hear. “You’re telling me, that you left a substantial piece of FBI evidence for the case of a missing child in the hands of  _ these people?! _ What were you thinking?!”

“I was thinking that Fishface over here was out of ideas, and this was our only shot. Guess what? It worked!” Snotlout whispered back, drawing an annoyed glare from Fishlegs.

“Snotlout,” Hiccup began. “If they really did find something, this could be the difference between finding Stirling alive, or dead.” He put his hands on his hips before continuing. “The fact that you didn’t tell us what you were up to makes you an asshole in and of itself, but, it was intuitive thinking.”

“Well, what do you know.” Snotlout beamed, crossing his arms. “The runt actually likes my plan.”

“Mmmm, you say runt, I say  _ gorgeous. _ ”  

Hiccup was completely startled when he felt long, bony fingers snake around his bicep and squeeze. Somehow, the female twin managed to sneak up behind him completely unnoticed, she was far too close for comfort before Hiccup had the chance to do anything otherwise.

“I like what I’m seeing.” She said as she put her hand to his chin and lifted his jaw upwards, to which he gently pulled her hand off and stepped away, confusion and distaste written all over his expression. “You should bring your friends over more often, Snotty.” She said, still eyeing Hiccup up and down with a devilish grin. Then, twiddling her pigtail braids in each hand, sultry walked past him to stand by her other half.

“They aren’t my friends,” Snotlout said, rubbing the bride of his nose. “They’re my coworkers, assigned to the same case I am, which is why we  _ need _ to see what you guys found on that laptop.”

“I’m sorry,” Fishlegs finally spoke up. “Who are you guys exactly?”

“Call me Tuff,” The male said, before gesturing to the female at his side. “She’s Ruff.”

“Or, you could add a  _ nut _ to it, like mom used to, right bro?” She said nudging Tuff with her elbow, the man laughing at supposed memories.

“Sooo, Tuff _ nut _ and… Ruffnut?” Hiccup asked, hesitantly. 

“Rolls right off the tongue, don’t you think?” Tuffnut asked to no one in particular. “What about you all?”

“Oh, right right right.” Snotlout said, turning to the group. Pointing to the respective members. “We got Fishlegs, Hiccup, and Hofferson.”

“Woah, you guys got dumb childhood nicknames too?!” Ruffnut asked enthusiastically.

“Even worse, the academy branded them.” Snotlout said, putting his hands on his hips and giving a sly smile.

“Damn, that’s stone cold.”

“Umm, right.” Astrid began, shaking her head to gain focus. “Look, we really need to see what you two found on our girl’s laptop. If it’s of use, it’s possible you’ll receive a portion of the civilian reward for information.” She said, trying to egg the pair on.

“Reward?” Tuffnut perked up, then turned his heels towards a different direction in the room. “Follow us.”

Both siblings began walking towards yet another closed door opposite where the group stood. The gang shuffled around the spots of clutter as they all made their way. When Tuffnut opened the door, little light could be seen inside. As each person entered, they realized very quickly how much smaller this room was compared to the others in the house. The little light emanating in the room were from three aligned monitors on standby, they sat on a sturdy, wide desk that housed just as much clutter as the previous room.

Tuffnut sat on the chair stationed in front of the desk and flipped on a dim lamp that sat on the corner of the wooden platform. With more light, the group realized why the room seemed so little. Each wall contained shelves upon shelves of computer parts, marked hard drives, even wiring systems that lay astray on the metal racks. Hiccup noticed that Stirling’s laptop lay on the side of the large, wooden desk. It was damn-near gutted, parts of it lying all across the dark surface.

“Sooo, what are you? Some kind of vigilante coder?” Fishlegs asked with interest.

“More like a digital mastermind,” Tuffnut said with a smirk, logging into his large desktop. “The puppetmaster of a whole era in web analysis.”

“From your mother’s basement.” Astrid huffed, unamused.

“Beauty of the job, my fair lady.” As the desktop finished loading, all three monitors displayed dozens of different windows, foreign coding keys filling a majority of them. “Alright, what do you need to see?”

“The last conversation she had Friday night.” Hiccup responded almost instantly.

“Coming right up.” With a few taps of his keyboard, a new window appeared. A slew of message bubbles appeared within it. Tuffnut turned in his desk chair to face the group, a hand displayed towards the monitors in a presentory gesture.

“W-wait, I don’t understand.” Fishlegs stated, confusion written all over his face. “All her social media accounts were deleted, how can we still actively view this?”

“Telegram, my friend. You familiar?”

There was a silence, Tuffnut rolled his eyes before continuing.

“Telegram’s a software-based messaging service. Her profile may have been terminated, but the hard drive still registered the messages before expiration. Even the conversations she had through her phone, saved to the cloud, then filed into her hard drive.”

“What do you mean before expiration?” Astrid asked, crossing her arms.

“Telegram’s some post-Snowden shit, it wipes conversations after a period of time. So if you’re looking for any conversations past, say… a couple weeks before her last message, outta luck.”

“Great,” Astrid continued, shaking her head in defeat. “Let’s just see what her last conversation was about.”

Tuffnut nodded, then turned his chair back around to face the monitors, before blowing up the messaging window for the agents’ viewing.

 

\--------------------------------

 

VIEWING CHAT OF:  **DebbieLynn101** & Rosko0056

 

_ FRIDAY SEP. 14, 6:23 PM _

 

 

  * **_**_Hi hun, im almost ready!! My mom just left for work, i can take her car ;)_**_**



 

 

 

  * __Good, can’t wait to finally see u in person.__



 

 

 

  * __Bet you’re even more beautiful...__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Aww ur too sweet <3_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_Im excited to see you too, this club’s supposed to be AMAZINGGG_**_**



 

 

 

  * __It is, trust me. I can buy drinks for you, since you’re too young  XD__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Ughhh, sux being in HS_**_**



 

 

 

  * __Yea it was never fun for me either, once you’re out it gets better__



 

 

 

  * __Your boyfriend’s not gonna catch us is he? Lol__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Lol noo, he’s playing fb tonight. And he’s not my boyfrind anymore, remember?? He’s a fuckin asshole!!_**_**



 

 

 

  * __Haha yea sorry. Total scumbag.__



 

 

 

  * __I’m about to leave.__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Cool, mssg me when u get there??_**_**



 

 

 

  * __Of course__



 

 

 

  * __Can’t wait to see u babe__



 

 

 

  * **_**_< 3 <3 <3_**_**



 

  
  


_ FRIDAY SEP. 14, 6:47 PM _

 

 

  * __Nooo...__



 

 

 

  * __No no no, you’re gonna hate me  :’(__



 

 

 

  * **_**_What’s wrong???_**_**



 

 

 

  * __I cut through Cougar from the highway to get there sooner.. My car broke down...__



 

 

 

  * __I have to call triple A, it’ll take forever, don’t think I can make it..__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Oh…_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_But I cut the game to see you  :’(_**_**



 

 

 

  * __I knoww, I feel terrible. Really wanted to see you in person..__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Well, what if I come and get you??_**_**



 

 

 

  * __What? No, I don’t want you getting lost out here!__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Don’t be silly, I’m leaving in like 10 min, just send me your location_**_**



 

 

 

  * __You’d come all the way out here?__



 

 

 

  * **_**_I don’t want you stranded out there. Cougar’s only like half an hour out!_**_**



 

 

 

  * __...Ok__



 

 

_ Rosko0056’S LOCATION HAS BEEN SENT _

 

 

  * __Promise me you’ll be careful__



 

 

 

  * **_**_Of course!!_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_Can’t wait to finally meet u <3 won’t be long now_**_**



 

  
  


_ FRIDAY SEP. 14, 7:39 PM  (MOBILE USE) _

 

 

  * **_**_Hey babe, im at your location thing! I don’t see your car tho?_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_U thereee???_**_**



 

  
  


_ FRIDAY SEP. 14, 7:44 PM  (MOBILE USE) _

 

 

  * **_**_I’ve been driving up and down the road, it’s getting really dark, can you see me??_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_I’ll wait another few minutes but it’s kinda scary out in the woods… let me know when you get these, my signal’s pretty bad. Maybe that’s why you aren’t responding??_**_**



 

 

_ FRIDAY SEP. 14, 7:50 PM  (MOBILE USE) _

 

 

  * **_**_Babe_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_…_**_**



 

 

 

  * **_**_That’s you off in the distance, right?_**_**



 

  
  
  


_ SATURDAY SEP. 15, 12:19 AM _

 

_ THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN TERMINATED. TO LOG INTO ANOTHER, VISIT OUR  _ _ HOME PAGE. _

 

\--------------------------------

 

Chills ran up and down Hiccup’s spine as he read the last of the messages. Every one of the agents were still processing the information they’d just recieved.

“She… was attacked.” Fishlegs spoke out.

“There had to have been more than one attacker though, right?” Astrid began, confusion in her voice. “There’s no way someone could’ve done what they did to her car alone.”

“Astrid’s right.” Hiccup said. “Tuffnut, how long were these two talking to one another?”

“Psh, longer than two weeks.” Tuffnut replied, leaning back into his chair. “Told you, Telegram erases all conversations after a certain amount of time, even on her hard drive.”

“Is there any way you can give us all of this? We need to take everything in for evidence.” Hiccup stated.

“Sure, but uh, just between you and me.” Tuffnut said, leaning closer to Hiccup’s direction and whispering. “Don’t tell your FBI buddies about my methods of obtaining data. It’s more than a little top secret.” He finished with a wink, then turned around to begin extracting the files.

“I-I still don’t understand how you were able to even get her files back!” Fishlegs started, rubbing the back of his head. “Her entire system was wiped clean.

“Ugh, you’re supposed to be some kind of superficial FBI agent?” Ruffnut finally stated, looking immensely at her nails, seeming unamused.

“Ha, that’s what I said.” Snotlout beamed, looking far too smug for the situation. Ruffnut rolled her eyes before continuing.

“The files were there one minute, and gone the next, right?” She looked to Fishlegs, who nodded in return. “And you went through the whole database afterwards?”

“I put it through every scanning system we have, nothing.”

“Hello!” She exclaimed. “You’re dealing with dark-web shit here! Whoever she was talking to probably sent her a malicious file at some point, and got access to her system! When they saw that someone was active on the device again-” She snapped her fingers. “Bam, everything masked.”

“Unless you’ve dealt with your fair share of dark-net malware, and know how to get the files back.” Tuff injected, holding up his hand for Ruff to give him a high-five. To which she dramatically obliged.

“Our systems  _ do _ scan for dark-net malware, we would’ve found something!” Fishlegs responded.

“Well, looks like your systems are unreliable... Just like men.” Ruffnut said, voice full of spite. There were a few beats of awkward silence, before Hiccup finally spoke.

“Alright look, we need to figure out who this Rosko guy is, Tuff, does his profile say anything specific?”

Tuffnut huffed, eyes still on the monitors. “Nope, his account was terminated too. Couldn’t find a damn thing.”

“Can you trace the IP address through his messages?” Fishlegs asked.

“I mean, I could try. But if this really is some dark-web creep, it would probably take a while, few days at least.” Tuffnut responded.

“Do what you can.” Hiccup said, then turned to the other agents. “We need to get all this back to Headquarters, maybe by the time we get there, some evidence from the car could be in.”

“Woah woah woah, you guys actually found the car?” Ruffnut asked, suddenly interested. “This is like... A serious thing.”

“Of course this is serious,” Hiccup replied. “And, don’t go off spouting this information either. You already know enough to cost us our jobs.”

“Your secret’s safe with me, babe.” She said with a wink and gave him the same devilish smile from earlier. Hiccup shook his head and turned to Tuffnut, who had just pulled a very large looking zip drive out of the vast computer tower below.

“Here you go my Hiccupy friend.” Tuff said with a smile, handing the object to Hiccup. “I’ll get a hold of Snot when I know something about our guy here.”

“Don’t waste any time,” Astrid said with a serious tone. “A little girl’s life is at stake here.”

Hiccup nodded, then added, “And who knows what else.”

 

oOo

 

After the crew had spent a majority of the day going over all the files at the department, they were more than a bit surprised at the lack of evidence that was found in Stirling’s vehicle. No blood, no forced entry points, not even a solid print. Other than of course Stirling’s and her mother’s. This made the gears turn in Hiccup’s mind. Clearly these people had done this before. No extreme crime like this one was left so clean, so masked, that even trained professionals wouldn’t be able to find a damn thing.

As for the conversations recovered by Tuff and Ruff, most of the messages in the last two weeks between Debbie and Rosko were standard, useless chat. Most was just romantic banter, and Astrid was quick to point out how little information Rosko actually gave Stirling about his private life. Though it made sense, he probably didn’t even exist.

Now Hiccup was back in Astrid’s passenger seat, as they’d taken her car that morning, she insisted to drive him home as well. They were just a few minutes away when Astrid started a new conversation.

“That Ruffnut was a real charmer.” She said, visibly trying to contain her laughter.

“Oh,” Hiccup said with a chuckle. “Yeah no kidding. She was looking at me the way my cat looks at a dish of tuna.”

This finally drew a laugh from the woman, “I would say I feel sorry for you, but it was way more entertaining than you might think.”

“Was for me too, she’s the first girl who’s even  _ looked _ at me in years.”

“Really?” Astrid asked, sounding… Surprised. “I mean, I see how ‘Hiccup’ can be a bit of a turn off.”

Hiccup shook his head, “Hey, we can’t all be winners. Besides, didn’t you have anyone back in Chicago?”

“Mmmm, nothing serious. Just a bunch of shallow bastards who only want one thing.”

Hiccup nodded, there was a brief silence and Hiccup saw genuine disappointment written on her features. “Men are pigs.” He said.

This made her smile, she then glanced in his direction. “Hmm, not all men. You seem pretty genuine, at the very least not an asshole.”

“I don’t know, I mean we only just met.” He started, sarcasm laced through his voice. “I could be a psychopath.”

“You’re not a psychopath, trust me, I’d tell you if you were.”

“Fair enough.”

They finally made it to his driveway, as she pulled in to park, Hiccup began gathering his items.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” He asked.

“You know the drill.” She smiled back, then looked to study the outside of his house. “Aww, looks like someone’s waiting for you.”

Hiccup was confused at first, then followed her eyeline to his living room window, Toothless sat in the seal; tail flicking and green eyes wide with the foreign car parked so close to his territory.

Hiccup laughed, “He’s just waiting for his source of food.” He then opened the door, but decided to present a daring statement before he left completely. “You can, um, come in and meet him if you want.”

Astrid smiled, but gestured back to the road, “My roommate has a date tonight, I have to get back and help her get ready.” She then made the shape of a gun with her hand, before putting it to the side of her head and pulling the faux trigger.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but smiled warmly.

She returned the gesture, “Next time though?” She asked.

“I’ll let Toothless know he has a date.” He said gesturing to the black cat in the window, then finally stepped out of the car, they exchanged mutual goodbyes before he shut the door.

As she pulled off and drove away, Hiccup purposefully walked past his living room window. He saw that the cat was meowing at him, though muted through the glass. He tapped on the window once, causing the creature’s head to jerk backwards in startle.

“Needy.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to take this A/N to thank all the readers who've made it this far! Hope you guys are liking where this story's going :)


	8. Dysfunctional

Hiccup sat alone in his car, the hum of silence ringing in his ears as his hands remained plastered to the steering wheel. Knots formed in his stomach as he looked to his surroundings. Back on the same exact street he’d been on just a week prior, in the same cracked driveway, same childrens’ toys littering the muddy front yard. Only this time, with the hour of his visit, the dim porch light was on; as the gray evening sky gave little use for illumination. And unlike the previous visit to this residence, he was on his own.

It had been a week since the initial report of a missing Debbie Stirling, and after visiting with Snotlout’s boneheaded twin friends, little evidence had been found. The team had gone through every resource imaginable. The forensic team stripping the car from top to bottom trying to find anything of use. Even Mr. Oswald said he’d never seen such a catastrophic displacement of a missing vehicle turn up so little evidence, it was like some kind of sick joke. Hiccup and Astrid had gone through every file of information they’d received from Tuffnut, the closest thing to something useful they’d found had been in Debbie’s conversation with her friend Jasmine Vega, the one they’d briefly interviewed the week before. In the midst of talking about how shitty and untrustworthy her ex boyfriend was, she’d mentioned an online friend she was communicating with. Apparently their conversations were pretty extensive.

Not that it mattered much, there was no way to recover any of it.

They were working in complete darkness, and now he was here. In the driveway of Stirling’s mother’s house yet again, preparing himself to go up to her door and tell her about how they were failing to find her daughter. Astrid had already left the department for the day when Hiccup was told to check up on the victim’s family. He found himself wishing silently that she was here. It wasn’t just because she was far better trained to deal with people than he was, he’d quickly gotten used to having her at his side. He’d even discovered a few new things about her in their week of working with one another.

For example, he learned she had a roommate named Heather, who she has only known for the past couple of weeks she’d actually been living in Seattle. But supposedly, the girl was very accepting, if not completely extroverted and happy-go-lucky. Astrid would briefly complain of the woman’s hourly morning routines and tales of guys she’d meet at bars or the office she worked at, but Hiccup felt as if her communicating with him was somewhat of a liberation for her, and he was happy to listen.

Hiccup’s mind tangent was soon interrupted by the booming of thunder that brought him back to real time. He glanced outside the tinted window of his car, and looked upwards towards the darkening sky. It would rain again soon, and he was far too ready to go home given the hour of day. But he had a job to do.

He reluctantly stepped out of the vehicle and made his way towards the old, concrete porch. It was only for a second, but he could’ve sworn he saw the blinds from a window on the side of the house move just a bit.

Slowly he approached the front door, and as his feet planted firmly in front of it, he sought out the willpower to reach up and knock on the old wood. Just as last time, he heard footsteps echoing through the hollow foundation towards the door, but this time, they sounded heavier. Instead of a wiry, worn-out blonde woman greeting him in the opening crack of the door, a similarly wiry, but scruffy man slung the door open. Only a couple inches shorter than Hiccup, he wore no shirt, and brown cargo pants. He was mostly bald, besides the completely unkept, dark beard growing on his face and neck. His eyes at first appeared dark, but Hiccup soon realized it was only the dilation of his pupils.

The man leaned a tattooed arm against the doorframe, and looked at Hiccup with suspicion before any words were even spoken.

“Is Ms. Burman home?” Hiccup asked, breaking the silence.

“Who are you?” The man nearly grumbled. Hiccup quickly reached in his pocket and pulled out his badge, exposing it to the man.

“Agent Haddock, FBI, here for an update on the case of her daughter.” There was a silence after this statement, the man continuing to look the agent up and down. Never had Hiccup felt such judgement upon the first ten seconds of meeting a person.

“Is she dead?” He asked, no emotion on his face whatsoever.

“No.” Hiccup responded after a few moments of tension. The man shook his head.

“Whoever that girl ran off with, she’s not coming back, you know.” He said, speaking to Hiccup in a matter-of-factly manner. “Sarah told me about her car that was found, Debbie was just trying to hide it to cover her tracks.”

Hiccup realized he hadn’t known Debbie’s mother’s first name until just now, but was ultimately caught off guard with the bold statement.

“That’s not likely, sir.”

“Oh yeah?” He said, lip twitching into a smile. “You guys find anything in the car?”

The silence returned.

“That’s strictly confidential, I’ll ask again, is Ms. Burman home?” Hiccup said, nearly glaring at this point.

The man clicked his tongue, “Eh, you just missed her. Left for her shift about twenty minutes ago.”

Hiccup cursed himself in his mind, but remained his composure in front of the man.

“Right, well I’m only here for a routinely report. Nothing substantial, I was only instructed to answer any questions she may have.”

“Hiccup?” A little voice rang from behind the man’s form, and he stepped slightly to the side to reveal a little girl, dressed in the same pink pajama outfit she had been wearing during Hiccup’s previous visit. Of course, holding the same stuffed, orange tabby cat.

“Emily!” Hiccup said with pep in his voice, trying to make his presence a little more lighthearted. She walked to stand next the the man leaning against the door, but her little bare feet stopped at the threshold.

“Did you find Debbie?” She asked, looking up at him with hopeful, blue eyes that made Hiccup’s heart ache. His brows knitted together in sadness as he knelt down to meet her level.

“Not yet, but we’re still working. Every day we’re out there looking for her.”

This made the girl drop her head in disappointment, but she nodded after a few seconds.

“You talk to him before?” The man in the doorway asked her, looking down at the little girl in irritated confusion. She looked up at him and nodded once more.

“He came to talk to Mommy last week.” She then turned back to Hiccup, a little more light in her eyes. “How’s your kitty doing?”

Hiccup laughed at her question, then smiled as he answered. “Lazy, all he does is sleep. Cats have a hard life, you know?”

Emily smiled back, then hugged her own little stuffed cat closer to her chest.

“You need anything else?” The man asked with a demanding tone, looking down at Hiccup, who still knelt before the little girl. He went back to a standing position, and regained his serious composure before speaking.

“Just let Ms. Burman know I was here, she has our number. If she has any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer.”

“I’ll let her know.” The man said, still eyeing Hiccup up and down. He then gestured in the direction of the driveway. “Go on then.”

Hiccup couldn’t hide his glare this time, nothing but dissonance for the man before him. But he managed to send a goodbye smile in Emily’s direction, to which she returned.

But Hiccup’s thoughts remained jumbled as he made his way to the car, hearing the large door slam from behind him. Only one question rung through his mind.

What the hell kind of family was he dealing with?

Dysfunctional, a good word for it.

 

oOo

 

The next morning, Hiccup made his way inside Headquarters. And after checking in, sauntered up to the forensic department, the place the gang would meet every morning to go over the evidence they’d collected from top to bottom, then decide what needed to be done for the day. But when he arrived, he was surprised to see the lab void of any of his crew members.

“Agent Haddock?” A woman’s voice asked from behind him, he turned to see one of Mr. Oswald’s secretaries standing there. Artificially sweet smile plastered on her face.

“Yeah?” He replied awkwardly.

“Mr. Oswald would like to see you in his conference room.”

Oh no.

“Right, um, thank you. I’ll be right up.” He responded. To which she turned and scuttled out of the room on her much-too-uncomfortable looking heels. Mr. Oswald calling him in in the midst of a huge case, this couldn’t be good.

The walk to the conference room had Hiccup’s stomach in knots, other agents swooped past him in the hallways, going on about their jobs without a care in the world for him. Not knowing the gravity of the situation he was in, to him, it seemed almost impossible to disregard.

Upon reaching the door, he slowly opened it to reveal... Astrid, sitting at the table alone. A file was sitting closed on the table in front of her. At the sound of the door opening, she looked towards him. Hiccup saw a strange emotion written across her face. He couldn’t tell if it was good or bad, but she gave little reaction to him, face remaining Stoic. He glanced around the room, finding it to be empty other than the woman before him.

“Uh, what’s going on here?” He asked, entering the room completely now and shutting the door behind him. “Where is everyone?”

“Snotlout and Fishlegs aren’t here yet.” She said, her voice was soft. Delicate even. “Mr. Oswald left to make more copies.” She then gestured to the file in front of her. Hiccup’s brows narrowed in confusion, then he walked over to where she sat, and took the seat next to her.

“So… What is that?” He asked meekly. She didn’t meet his eyes, instead, her stare remained on the file in front of her. Slowly, she reached out her hand, and slid it in front of him. Keeping it closed.

Hiccup was very concerned at this point. “Astrid?” He asked. She took a deep breath before answering him, eyes still downwards at the table.

“It’s another missing persons case Oswald’s assigning to us.”

“What?” Hiccup was quick to ask, two missing persons cases at the same time? They’d barely made any progress with Stirling over the past week, why would Oswald give them another? “I-I don’t under-”

“Open it, Hiccup.” She said flatly. Hiccup looked down at the closed file, then with great reluctance, moved his fingers across the top of the lightly-colored folder, and opened it with one fluid motion

Hiccup understood instantly. But it didn’t stop the jolt of shock that he felt in his chest, it’s what Astrid must’ve been feeling when he first saw her, why she was so unlike herself. It was shock.

The picture at the front of the file displayed a petite, hispanic girl. Dark hair and eyes to match. Age was seventeen. Junior at Bellevue High. Her name was displayed in large letters at the bottom of the page.

Jasmine Vega.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter, but all I could write before next week unfortunately.  
> Fuck college.


	9. Baggage

The past few hours had gone by in somewhat of a blur, Oswald started by giving the entire team a briefing on the new case. Saying that evidence was currently being collected by the police in the victim’s house. Her computer and other essential items were brought in almost within the hour. Hiccup played the case back in his mind.

Jasmine was Debbie’s best friend. Him and Astrid had interviewed her just a week before, in fact, she seemed to be the only person with any emotional investment in her friend’s disappearance at all. Her mother reported her missing the night before, Tuesday. The reason being her daughter had cut school that day, the girl had lied Monday night and said she was spending the night at a mutual friend’s house. When Jasmine hadn’t reported to school the next morning, her mother got a call from the office. After confirming with the mother of the supposed friend that she hadn’t spent the night, and spending all day trying to reach her daughter, the mother finally reported her missing.

Now it was Wednesday, only eight days after the disappearance of Debbie Stirling, and Jasmine Vega was no doubt connected.

Her computer arrived within the hour, with the new evidence, Hiccup made a decisive move in allowing Snotlout to go to the house and speak with Jasmine’s parents, which surprised the man, but he was overall grateful for the chance. Him and Astrid stayed behind with Fishlegs, waiting to see what evidence they could possibly gather from the girl’s computer information. Through the graces of the Gods above, the computer appeared in an ideal state, and being a Mac, connected the conversations through her phone into her data on the laptop. They viewed the earliest conversation almost instantly, and were surprised to see what they found.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 _-VIEWING CHAT OF:_ **_JASMINE_ ** _ & Unknown Number- _

 

  * Hey, u there?



 

 

  * ****Um, who is this?****



 

 

  * Okay don’t freak out, but it’s Debbie.



 

 

  * ****…****



 

 

 

  * ****Debbie??!!****



 

 

  * I know, I’ll explain everything.



 

 

  * ****How do I know it’s you, and this isn’t some awful joke?****



 

 

  * Jaz it’s me!



 

  * Ask me something only I’d know.



 

 

  * ****Ok, umm****



 

 

 

  * ****In 9th grade, we had a sleepover and you dared me to tp one of my neighbor’s front yards. Whose was it?****



 

 

  * Mrs. Peterson’s



 

  * She told your mom the next day and we both spent the week raking her yard.



 

 

  * ****Holy shit...****



 

 

 

  * ****Debbie where the hell are you?!! A fucking FBI team came and interrogated the entire cheer squad!****



 

 

 

  * ****Your mom’s car was found in the forest!!****



 

 

 

  * ****Do you have any idea how worried I was??!!****



 

 

  * I know, I’m so sorry Jaz! I’m with Rosko, the one I told you about, remember?



 

  * I met up with him and we got along so well he took me to the place he lives, I’ve been there. We both did that to my mom’s car, we didn’t want anyone to find it.



 

 

  * ****Are you safe???****



 

 

  * Of course I’m safe, I just didn’t want to come home to my junkie ass mother.



 

  * Rosko’s taking care of me.



 

 

  * ****Debbie, I HAVE to tell the police where you are. Everyone still thinks you’re missing!!****



 

 

  * NO!!



 

  * Please Jaz! I don’t want anyone knowing where I am, I threw out my phone and everything. I’m using Rosko’s to message you.



 

  * You’re my best friend, I can deal with everyone else thinking I’m gone but I wanted you to know the truth. It’s why I messaged in the first place.



 

 

  * ****Debbie wtf am I supposed to do??****



 

 

  * If you’re so worried, come meet me!



 

  * I’ll prove to you I’m okay.



 

 

  * ****I don’t know…****



 

 

  * Rosko lives in an RV on a lot about 30 min from there, come meet us!



 

  * UNKNOWN NUMBER HAS SENT LOCATION



 

 

  * ****What do I tell my mom?****



 

 

  * That you’re going to Ashley’s or something, I’m sure she’ll let u go.



 

 

  * ****…****



 

 

 

  * ****Fine.****



 

 

 

  * ****God dammit Debbie, you’d better know what you’re doing. You have no idea how much trouble you’d be in if anyone found out.****



 

 

  * Trust me, I know.



 

_-END OF CHAT-_

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There was a brief silence between the agents, before Hiccup quitely broke it.

“There’s no other messages after this one? Calls, anything?”

“N-No,” Fishlegs started, voice a bit shaky. “This is it.”

“Fishlegs,” Hiccup said, gripping his friend’s shoulder as they both stared at the monitor, “Get us that location, now.”

“Way ahead of you, Hiccup.”

“Woah woah woah,” Astrid began, stepping back and rubbing the bridge of her nose. “Look, I know it’s our job to hope for the best, but suspect the worst.” She looked at Hiccup with hope in her eyes. “But doesn’t all this sound… Plausible?”

Hiccup gave her a worried expression. “Maybe, and I don’t know about you two, but I hope it is.”

“Hiccup, you know I want this to be real too. But something seems off.” She replied.

“I guess you guys can go and find out.” Fishlegs interjected. Then abruptly stood and strided over to a nearby printer, one that was currently making loud buzzes in an attempt to produce a sheet. When it was finished, he picked up the paper and walked back over to the two agents. “Here’s the location ‘Debbie’ sent her.” He stated, making air quotes around the girl’s name.

“Thank you, Fishlegs.” Hiccup said, picking up the case files and gathering his other items. Astrid subconsciously did the same. “We’ll notify you as soon as we find something.”

Fishlegs nodded. “I’ll keep combing through her files, maybe I can find something more.”

With that, Hiccup and Astrid left the lab, went to the parking garage and started off in Astrid’s car, like they had quite a few times before in the past week. Within just a couple minutes of driving, Hiccup realized how grateful he was to be alone with Astrid. Neither Snotlout, nor Fishlegs understood the magnitude of what this disappearance might mean. But they did, they’d experienced first hand what his girl was like. Even if it had been brief, their interaction with Jasmine Vega made this case all the more real to them. It wasn’t just a girl in a picture they had never met, one who’s information they’d never know if not for the case file’s information. This was someone they’d spoken to, saw the pain she was in over the disappearance of her friend. For some reason, it gave Hiccup a much bigger feeling of dread than he’d felt in the previous days.

He thought hard for the words to say to Astrid, who had been eerily quiet since the beginning of that morning. He landed on the only thing he could think of in the moment.

“Some… First case, if I do say so myself.”

Astrid had no reaction, just kept her eyes on the busy street in front of her. “You’re doing fine, Hiccup. I know this isn’t exactly what we expected,” She said, faking an airy laugh. “But, we can get through it. Together.”

The silence returned, but something continued to plague Hiccup’s mind as they drove.

“You know,” He began, looking out the window at the grey sky above. “If this location is real, and what those messages said are true, this could all be over within the hour.”

Still little reaction from the woman beside him, she only replied with a little, “Mmhmm.”

Hiccup began to worry at this point, it was so unlike her to be this quiet. He then looked back at her, just then noticing something small, but impeccable. Her hair, rather than being in the neat, structured braid it was normally in, was very messy. Swept over her left shoulder, an attempted braid that ultimately looked like she’d been in a wind storm. The hair that sometimes hid the top and side portions of her face, now seemed all encompassing. Masking her goddess-like features Hiccup had grown so fond of seeing every day. But through the little strands of hair he could see under, he noticed how red the undersides of her eyes were. The blue orbs that added excitement to his day, now seemed glossy, almost tear-stricken.

In other words, she looked like she was going through hell. But wanted no one to know about it. Not so easily avoided by Hiccup.

“Are… you feeling okay?” He asked, concern in his voice.

She gave a quick sigh, then quietly replied. “I’m just a little tired.”

Hiccup nodded, but persisted with his observations, “You just, seem different today. Is everything alright?”

“I’m just stressing over the _two_ cases of missing children we’re dealing with now, that’s justifiable, isn’t it?”

“Of course it is,” He said, continuing to look in her direction. “But that’s not the reason you’re upset.”

This is when she finally broke eye contact with the road, glancing at him through those glassy eyes. “Excuse me?”

“Over the past week, you’ve told me about all the cases you worked in Chicago. Ones that would put _this_ one to shame. You aren’t stressed about the case.”

She said nothing. Only staring blankly in front of her.

Hiccup continued, “You’re my partner, you know.” He looked down to where her hand rested, over the console-gear shift between them. In a bold move, he gently rested his hand over hers. This, got her attention. She looked at his hand in surprise, then at him. His green eyes comforting, he gave her a little smile. “If something’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

Her features softened almost instantly. She even worked up the nerve to smile back at him. It was as if her hard exterior was beginning to crack, even if it was just a little, it was still progress. He gently slipped his hand off her’s.

She sighed, looking back at the road in front of her, “Remember, when I mentioned I had some, uh, family baggage back in Chicago?”

“Yeah?” He said softly.

“Well, my _mother_ contacted me last night.” She began, Hiccup looked at her, confused. She acknowledged this, “My mother and I haven’t spoken in almost two years, and… I haven’t seen her in person since I was ten years old.”

Hiccup felt a sharp ping in his chest at that, “Y-You can talk about it, if it’ll make you feel better.”

She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before speaking.

“My parents got divorced when I was five, it sucked, of course. But at the time I had no idea what was going on under the surface. My mother was stealing thousands of dollars from my father, maxing credit cards they couldn’t afford, but she had me convinced she was the good guy in the situation. And, I mean, I was five years old, of course I was going to believe her. I trusted her more than anyone else in the world.”

“Yeah, it makes sense.” Hiccup injected, letting her know he was attentive.

“So, my father moved out of the house, and it was just me and my mom. I would see my dad on the weekends, but, my mother was still my favorite. Pretty soon though, she started to change. She would go in her room and talk on the phone for _hours_ with the door closed, she’d spend all day and night on the computer, talking to someone. Then-”

There was a deafening pause, before she continued.

“Then, when I was seven, my Dad took me on on a trip to California to visit my uncle, we were gone for about a week. And… when we got back, my mom was gone.” She said, Hiccup could easily tell she was trying to hide the emotion slowly working its way onto her face. “Turns out, all those weeks she’d spent on the phone, she was talking to her new boyfriend in England. When my Dad and I left for California, she took the opportunity to leave without having to explain to my face why she didn’t want me anymore.”

The sentence alone made Hiccup’s blood broil, similar to the way it did speaking to Stirling’s mother.

But Astrid didn’t stop there, “Over the next three years, I stayed with my Dad. My mom, the damned good liar that she was, would come back to the US to see everyone once every six months or so. Every time, I would be so happy to see her. I mean, she was still my mom, right? I thought she still cared about me. But every time I thought she was there to stay, she would make up another lie about having to go back. Saying shit like, her boyfriend was in a bad car accident, or her luggage was stolen, and she had to go back to clear everything up. And when she was actually in England, she would make up excuses as to why she couldn’t come back. Eventually, when I was ten, she was home with us for a few months. It was so nice to have a mom again, you know? I thought we could actually be a family.

But, one day, when I was ten, she told me she had a big job interview in southern Illinois, it would be great, because her boyfriend would move to the US, and we would all be within driving distance with one another. So, I said goodbye, and sat by the living room window to watch her drive off…” There was a brief pause as Astrid put her thoughts in order. “It was another lie, of course. She actually went back to England, got an apartment with her boyfrie-. Er… Husband, actually. And within a year, they had a daughter together. I haven’t seen her since that day.”

Hiccup was amazed at how hard the shell on the woman before him had seemed, as horrible as he felt for her, he also marveled at the thought that she trusted him enough to tell him all this. He decided to speak, “And… What about your Dad?”

“Well, I’ll say this, I’ve never met anyone in my life who worked harder than he did. He was picking up fourteen hour shifts every day to pay off all the debt Mom caused him. Only thing is, my Dad’s as indifferent as they come. Even when he was home, he could never understand why I was so sad all the time. I went from my sentimental mother, even if it was just an act, to someone who didn’t even care if I spent my days alone. The guy didn’t acknowledge anything I did, hell, he didn’t come to either of my graduations. We barely even spoke after I left the academy, I told him I was leaving for Seattle, and he said it was alright.” She huffed, “As if I was asking for his permission or something.”

Hiccup couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could the amazing girl sitting before him, the one who’s dedicated her life to helping the people that need it, be treated as such? Although he refused to think about it too hard, the family baggage was something he could understand, even if his life had been far different than the woman’s sitting next to him.

“I.. I’m not sure what to say.” He said, honestly.

“I’m sorry,” She said quickly, hands gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter. “I just completely dropped my life story on your shoulders. I don’t mean to sound like I’m begging for pity or anything-”

“Astrid, don’t even say that!” Hiccup said sternly, she looked at him though the thick hair hanging over her eyes. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, I told you, you can tell me anything.” He finished with a soft smile, it took a few seconds, but she returned the gesture.

“So um, yeah, contact with my mother is few and far between. But… When we do talk, it usually involves her spouting off nonsense about how she’s the only sane person, and how _I’m_ crazy for thinking otherwise.” She shook her head. “My poor little sister has no idea about the things our Mom’s done, I just… Worry about her. Only her.”

Hiccup gave a concerned expression, then nodded.

By now, they were out of the main portion of the city. Traffic had lightened up as they ventured towards the direction of the GPS location. Within another fifteen minutes, they had arrived at a very run-down looking RV park. The sign read “RODNEY’S RV LOTS” in unlit neon letters by the side of the road, though several portions of the lights looked busted out. They turned in on a dirt pathway, and began looking for the specific lot number.

They passed a large sign detailing specific locations of the park. Hiccup signaled Astrid to stop so he could get a better look, the lot they were looking for was in the extreme upper righthand corner of the map. Following the guidelines best they could, they navigated through the muddy, dirt streets to their destination. Passing countless recreational vehicles with structured outdoor scenery placed all around them. It was clear, many individuals considered this place to be their home. Unbeknownst to Hiccup.

Finally, they reached the last turn to the portion of the park containing the supposed lot. Astrid slowed the car down to a near-halt, and looked to Hiccup.

“If that RV’s really there, all this might be over.” She said, the hope in her eyes returning from whatever dark place it was hiding before.

“Well, only one way to find out.” He replied, giving her a soft smile.

She took a deep breath, and they turned the final corner, looking for the correct lot number. Within seconds they saw the sign they were looking for, Lot 32. It was an old, rusty black and red sign, much like the others they had seen on their drive in. But unlike those, this lot housed nothing.

Nothing but a small piece of flat land, wet with rain puddles and muddy patches.

The coil Hiccup hadn’t realized was tensing up in his chest was suddenly released. All with a single notion of a parked vehicle, that was nowhere to be found. Astrid double checked the location from the directions Fishlegs had given them, but unfortunately, they were exactly where they were supposed to be.

The agents said nothing, but both released a mutual sigh of disappointment. Astrid pulled further into the lot, while still staying just beyond its boundaries. Careful to not tamper with any evidence that may or may not be there. The two exited the car within seconds, then slowly made their way onto the dirt platform.

“Astrid-” Hiccup began.

“Look for anything.” She abruptly said. “Footprints, trash, whatever we can analyze.”

The two scanned the dirt platform thoroughly, but nothing seemed prevalent on the surface. Hiccup noticed how still the air had gotten. The humidity of Seattle September sept it’s way through his clothes, making him feel hot and sticky, adding to the discomfort of the situation. Luckily, however, it wasn’t raining at the moment.

But Hiccup and Astrid’s search was suddenly interrupted by a gritty, deep voice.

“You gonna park that thing in the lot?! Or keep the damn thing in everyone’s way?”

The two turned to see and older woman emerging from a disturbingly colored RV behind them, Lot 31. Her hair was completely white, and her stalky form was covered in what appeared to be old rags, but was probably an old thrifty blue dress of some sort. Though her face was hidden under years of wrinkles, a scowl was prevalent.

Hiccup seized the opportunity.

“Um, excuse me Miss.” He said walking in her direction. “Did there happen to be someone parked in this lot about two days ago?” He gestured to the empty platform.

The old woman huffed. “Yeah there was. The drunk fuckers were making way too much noise.” She waved her hand. “Had people driving in and out all night before they split early yesterday morning.”

This ignited a fire in both the agents. They had a witness.

Astrid enthusiastically came to stand next to her partner as she spoke. “Miss,” She said, pulling out her badge. “We’re with the FBI, we have reason to believe the men you saw are responsible for the kidnapping of a minor, taking place on this lot. Can we ask you a few questions?”

The lady seemed taken aback, but twitched her brows in interest. “Sure, whatever it takes to get those annoying assholes in jail.”

She went on to describe the RV, it had been large, new even. She described the neutral colors that painted the side of it, and shared the little distinctive details she remembered. When asked to describe the men in question, she claimed she never saw them directly. But said there seemed to be around three to four voices total.

“Mostly just heard them, they were shouting nonsense about booze and casinos. Tried to tune them out if I’m being honest.” She said, now sitting in the plastic chair lining the edge of her RV.

“You mentioned earlier there were people coming in and out, what did you see?” Astrid asked, frantically writing anything she may have missed.

“Alright alright, I may have been exaggerating. There was… one car, I think.”

“Did you see what it looked like?” Hiccup asked swiftly.

She shook her head, “Only saw the headlights through my windows. Oh- they were LED if that helps.”

Hiccup looked to Astrid, who nodded her head and gave him a smile. If they remembered correctly from the case file, Jasmine’s car had LED lights.

“What happened to the car then?” Astrid asked with haste. “Was there any kind of commotion after it arrived?”

“Woah woah woah, slow down blondie. I look like someone with a top tier memory to you?” The woman laughed with annoyance. “The car left maybe fifteen minutes later, and… yes, there was a bit of scuffling going on in the RV.”

“Did you hear any distress? Anything that resembled a young girl?” Hiccup asked with worry in his voice.

The woman was silent for a few seconds, staring at the ground in front of her. She cocked her head to the side, “I-I don’t know, I suppose there could’ve been.” She shrugged.

Hiccup let out a breath, then looked to his partner. Her eyes were still fixated on the woman.

“Do you know if this park has any surveillance cameras?” She asked.

The woman laughed then, a deep, almost painful sounding laugh. She waved her hand once more. “Been living here for almost twenty years Sugar, Rodney wouldn’t put cameras up if he was on his death bed because of it.”

“Well,” Astrid started with disappointment, putting her notepad away. “I don’t know about Rodney, but someone might be. As we speak.” She turned on her heel in annoyance and marched back to the empty lot.

Hiccup was left near-speechless at her exit, turning back to the woman who cocked an eyebrow at him. He gave her a ghostly smile as he began to back away. “Th-Thank you for your time miss, your information has surely helped us.”

“Don’t mention it.” The woman said, struggling to stand from her chair. Then began to head back into her RV. “If that’s what you’re dealing with,” She said, hastily gesturing in Astrid’s direction, “I’m more concerned about your ass.” She finished with the same, gritty laugh as before, then disappeared into the mobile home.

Hiccup shook his head, turning back to his partner and walking onto the empty lot once more. It was easy to tell, she was still scouring for anything of importance. He went to step beside her.

“Astrid, we have a description.” Hiccup began, though Astrid kept her eyes on the ground. “We should head back to HQ and tell-”

“Blood.”

Hiccup stopped, “What?”

She extended her arm, pointing at the ground in front of her. “Blood.”

He followed her eye line, it took a second for his vision to register it through the darkness of the wet dirt, but a few specs of discolored crimson dotted what looked like an inch of the ground. She squatted to get a closer look, and without taking her eyes off it, gestured towards her car.

“Get me a vile, now.” She said with little emotion. Hiccup damn-near ran to her vehicle, reaching into the backseat to pull the forensic kit from her messenger bag. He hastily put on rubber gloves, grabbing a pair for Astrid as well, and brought a small vile wrapped in plastic back to where she squatted.

He handed her the gloves, she swiftly put them on as Hiccup removed the vile from the plastic. He handed it to her, and with extreme caution, she scooped the blood-stained mud from the ground, letting it fall to the bottom of the little glass container, before abruptly putting the cap back on.

“We need to get this tested, immediately.” She said standing, she then began striding back to her car. Though, Hiccup stayed put.

He felt they were missing something. Sure, of course it was odd that there was almost no evidence of anyone being here at all. Hell, it seemed even mother nature was against them, rain smoothing out any indention of tire tracks on the dirt lot.

Hiccup decided to investigate further. He turned back to Astrid, who was standing with the car door open, looking back at him in confusion.

“Are you coming?” She asked with intrigue. He looked back around the lot, then replied.

“Why don’t you go see if there’s anyone in the office building out front who might have a description.” He looked to her. “Those guys probably entered without checking in, to leave no trace, but it’s worth a shot.”

“What are you gonna do?” She asked.

“Stay here and look around a bit more, come and get me when you leave the office.”

She nodded without further question, then entered her car. Within seconds, she was pulling off onto the curvy dirt pathway once again. Hiccup quickly skimmed over the platform lot for the final time, before walking to the edge of it. Beyond the platform, a wide, grassy area extended about a hundred yards until it was cut off by an old road.

His eyes scanned the sea of green, then out of pure instinct, he began to walk off the lot, out of the realm of the RV park, and into the grassy field. Not entirely sure what he was looking for, the wetness from the slick grass soon soaked its way through the bottoms of his pants. He continued walking for about thirty paces, then looked back to where he came from.

Scanning again. Whether it was pure luck, or the gods smiling down upon him, he spotted a small white square around twenty feet to his right. Moving quickly through the uncut grass, he reached his point of interest, and studied what lay on the ground.

It was a receipt. Stuck between two slender blades of grass. Hiccup picked it up carefully, and attempted to read it’s contents. Which proved to be difficult, with the darkness from the wet paper.

The top read: WESTPOINT CASINO

Ignoring all else, Hiccup searched intently for the date. Upon finding it, he saw that it was printed last Saturday. The old woman’s words echoed in his brain from earlier. _Talking about booze and casinos._

Bingo.

 

oOo

 

“So let me get this straight, they lured her to some raggedy-ass RV park, abducted her, took her car, and there was no surveillance footage?!” Snotlout nearly yelled. Making the other workers in the lab wince with his harsh voice.

“Snotlout, that was the point.” Astrid said, irritably. “They must’ve known they could’ve easily snuck into the park. It’s the perfect place to slip in, undetected, and make an abduction without blowing their cover. Our witness says they were only there for one night.”

Once Hiccup and Astrid had returned to the lab, they turned in the blood patches to be analyzed, however, it would take at least a couple of days to come back. Snotlout had returned from meeting with the parents, gaining information connected to her last sighting. Although, the agents all had a feeling they knew exactly when she went off the grid.

“Fishlegs,” Hiccup started, looking to his friend who was intently working through files on his computer. “Find anything of use?”

“I’ve gone through most of her conversations, including the last messages from Vega’s actual cell phone. I’m printing out the most recent ones as we speak. Some are already in the printer if you guys want to look.”

“Good.” Astrid injected, then hurriedly walked over to the machine.

“I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time understanding why everyone’s so enthusiastic right now.” Snotlout huffed. “We now have _two_ missing persons, and all we’ve found is a lousy receipt, and a spot of blood that might not even be blood at all?!”

Any ounce of patience Hiccup had left in him was suddenly gone. As much as he wanted to snap at the man to shut up and trust his partners, he knew it would do no good. Instead, he looked at the whiteboard that was on the wall a few paces beside them. Without any context, he walked towards it, picked up the eraser and diminished any writing that was currently on it.

“Uhh, what are you doing?” Snotlout asked.

Hiccup stayed silent as he picked up a marker, and began to make a vague map of the locations they’d searched so far.

“We found Stirling’s car in Cougar Park,” He began, circling the location. “It’s remote, no witnesses, you would need to make the victim trust you enough to meet in a location like this, our guy had earned Stirling’s trust. Only surveillance footage is located here, outside the park itself.” Hiccup pointed to the area that would contain the gas station Astrid and him visited before entering the forest, then gestured to the RV location. “Our guy then convinced Vega that he was Stirling, but he knew she’d still be sceptical. So he couldn’t use another remote location like before, it needed to be more public. So he scouted out a run-down RV park that had no surveillance, few witnesses, and looked trustworthy enough for Vega to be comfortable entering.”

“Only problem is,” Astrid jumped in. “These locations are so spread apart, so there’s no telling where they do their bidding.”

“Well, actually. There might be.” Hiccup walked back over to Fishlegs’ desk, and picked up the receipt that was now encased in a small, plastic bag. “Our witness mentioned she heard the men talking about a casino. There’s no doubt in my mind _this_ is the place they were discussing.”

“So?” Snotlout asked. “Lots of people go to casinos.”

Hiccup smiled, then faced the slip of paper towards him. “Recognize the name?”

Snotlout took a few seconds, squinting to read the paper. His eyes widened. “Isn’t that the place where some guys got busted for dealing prostitutes last year?”

“Yep,” Hiccup said, now handing the paper to his teammate. “Here’s what you’re gonna do, Snotlout. You’re gonna give this to Tuffnut and Ruffnut. With all the shit they get into on the web, maybe they can find some sort of correlation between our guys and this casino.”

“Ha-ha!” Snotlout exclaimed dramatically, taking the paper and looking at it once more. “Not a bad idea, runt.”

“Tell them to work as fast as possible. I think we’re getting closer to finding both our girls. Alive.” Hiccup said, pep in his voice.

“Umm, I hate to be the harbinger of impending doom here.” Fishlegs said shyly, turning in his office chair. “But do you really think Stirling’s still alive? She’s been missing over a week now.” He said with a grim expression.

“I don’t think she’s alive, Fishlegs.” Hiccup said, still smiling. “I know she is.”

Snotlout laughed again, making the three other agents scowl at him. “Sorry sorry,” He said, wiping a fake tear of laughter. “But uh, _how_ exactly could you know that?”

“When our guy was messaging Vega, trying to lure her out to the RV park, she was asking him questions he _couldn’t_ have known without Stirling.”

“So, what are you implying?” Astrid asked.

“I think they were keeping Stirling alive in order to lure in one of her friends, someone that trusted her enough to not ask many questions.” Hiccup said intently.

“You think Stirling was in the RV with them?” Astrid asked, concern in her voice.

“Unless the messages were being transferred through another location, but it’s possible.”

“We’ll have to wait for the blood results to come in.” Fishlegs added.

“These guys are too clean cut,” Snotlout started, acting smug. “You really think we can find them with all these speculations?”

Astrid rolled her eyes, and continued reading the papers Fishlegs had printed.

“Please, Snotlout.” Hiccup said, rubbing his face in angst. “If you don’t like my plan, _please_ let me hear one of yours.”

Snotlout was silent for a few moments, a concentrated expression on his face. Then he laughed nervously, holding up the packaged receipt. “I’ll just send a pic of this to Tuff.”

“Thought so.” Hiccup replied as the man walked away.

Suddenly, Astrid spoke up. “Uh, Fishlegs... “ She said, looking up from the papers. “These are her most recent conversations, right?”

He nodded.

“What it it?” Hiccup asked her, she looked up at him.

“Remember Derek Levy?” She asked, to which Hiccup nodded. “Well, he’s back in the picture.” She said with an accusing look on her face, then handed him the paper she was looking at. “I don’t think we can get around speaking to him this time.”

Hiccup took the paper from her hand, his brows twitched in surprise as he read the contents.

“Looks like we’re heading back to Bellevue.” He said.

“I’ll go request a search warrant for his phone,” Astrid said, gathering the remaining papers and walking out of the room with haste. “Get everything we need and meet me at the car!” She yelled as she left.


	10. A Lovely Eternity

“Can you tell us what these are?” Astrid asked, sliding a small stack of pages across the tabletop, in the boy’s direction. Hiccup sat next to her, eyes not breaking contact with the teenager sat opposite from them.

Hiccup had been somewhat surprised at the mundanity of the boy when they met. The boy was nearly a culmination of any high school jock you’d see in a B-rated teen movie, complete with a blue and gold letterman jacket. Patches of different sports he’d participated in lined the sleeves and chest. His hair was dark and short, making it easy to read the expressions on his face, a feature Hiccup knew Astrid was grateful for.

The boy took a moment to scan the pictures, the pair could see his eyes widen a bit after reading their contents.

“Uhh, they’re messages I sent to Jasmine.” He said, hesitantly. Looking back up and between the two agents.

“Those are messages you sent to her the day she disappeared. Monday? If I’m not mistaken.” Astrid said, sounding as intimidating as she possibly could.

“Yeah, so what about them?” He asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“You and Miss Vega almost never communicate, at least according to what she told us last week, when we interviewed her in this very room.” Astrid leaned forward and rested her arms on the table as she continued. “We have her contact history, and we can confirm this ourselves. So why did you decide to message her  _ that day _ ? I mean, it’s one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?”

The boy’s brows narrowed, “You think I had something to do with her going missing?”

Hiccup glanced at his partner before he jumped in, “In these very messages,” He said, gesturing to the papers that lay on the table between them. “You told Jasmine that it was only a matter of time before something like this happened to Debbie, that you were surprised that it even took this long. Then you go on to call her a slut, when Miss Vega tried to defend her friend, you resorted to sending her very-” Hiccup paused himself, clearing his throat before the next part. “ _ Revealing _ screenshots of Debbie.”

Derek stayed silent at this, eyes low, not meeting the two adults before him.

“Derek, all we want to know is what happened on Monday.” Astrid said, sounding a little more compassionate. “What made you message her in the first place?”

He looked at them then, sighing before finally giving in. “When I got to school, Jasmine was a complete fucking mess. I don’t know what happened between Debbie’s disappearance and then, but, she was clearly upset. My friends and I were passing her in the hall, and one of them thought it would be really smart to make fun of her for it.” He shrugged. “I don’t remember exactly what he said, but, she was pissed.

Then she came after me.  _ Me! _ I hadn’t even said anything. But started talking all this shit about how it was my fault Debbie was gone. We got in a yelling match, when someone said the teachers were coming to break it up, my friends and I snuck out before anyone got there…” He then began rubbing the back of his head, clearly hesitant to continue.

“Mr. Levy, I know we’re scary FBI agents.” Hiccup started. “But we aren’t going to reprimand you for doing stupid teenager nonsense, we’re here to find two missing girls. Tell us everything you did, it won’t come back around, I promise.”

Derek was silent for a few more moments, then continued. “Well, we all went to one of my friend’s houses. Had… a few drinks.” He chuckled. “I-I don’t know, I wasn’t feeling like myself, so I started messaging Jasmine to get back at her.”

Hiccup looked to Astrid, who was still eyeing the suspect before them.

“What happened between you and Debbie Stirling?” She finally asked. “We’re aware that you two started dating back in the late summer, but every piece of evidence we’ve collected so far has painted you as the jackass who dumped her.”

Derek laughed again, holding up a hand to gesture with. “Look, you guys have it all wrong, alrigh-”

“We have evidence from numerous sources that show you and her had some sort of fallout.” Astrid pushed. “Those photos you sent to Jasmine is nothing but proof of what we’ve interpreted so far.”

“You guys are crazy!-”

“Why did you break it off with her?”

Derek stood from his chair, nearly shouting at the agents. “She dumped me! Alright?! I went through her phone when she wasn’t looking, and saw that she’d sent all those photos to some random guy! He was saying all this shit about, ‘wanting to see every inch of her.’ I screenshotted the photos and sent them to myself as proof in case she tried to deny it, when she found out I did what I did, she told me to fuck off!” The boy took a deep breath, calming himself, then plopped back down in the seat.

Hiccup and Astrid were taken aback by his action, but ignored his outburst in an attempt to process the information.

“When did you screenshot those photos?” Hiccup asked.

Derek shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe a month or so ago. That’s the last time Debbie and I spoke to each other.”

Astrid quirked a suspicious brow at Hiccup, the turned back to the boy. “We have a warrant to search your phone, Mr. Levy. We just need to see when your last contact with Miss Stirling was.”

Derek threw his hands up in mock-submission, then reached in his pocket. “Fine, you can see for yourself then. I had nothing to do with this!” He said, unlocking his phone and sliding it across the table.

Astrid picked up the device and went straight to the contacts, upon finding Debbie’s number, she looked at the last date of messages sent. He was telling the truth.

She then handed the phone to Hiccup, letting him see the result, “The other guy she was speaking to,” Astrid questioned. “Was it on an app called Telegram?”

“Uh, yeah that sounds right, I think.” Derek replied.

“Did she talk about him at all? Anything?”

“Pfft, no. She barely looked at me after I caught her cheating.”

Hiccup nodded to his partner after finishing with the phone, then handed the device back to its owner. “I think we’re just about done here Mr. Levy. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Derek shook his head, “Just… Just know I had nothing to do with either of them, alright?” He said, emotion just  _ barely _ slipping its way into his voice. “I know I can be an asshole, but, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt them.”

Astrid began packing their equipment, “You’re free to go now, Mr. Levy.” She said. The boy then stood, trying to make himself seem as little as possible while exiting the room.

When the door closed behind him, Hiccup picked up the copies of the messages Fishlegs had made them. Sifting through, he landed on the page containing the photos of their victim. Ignoring the provocative nature of the photos, there was something that was still swirling in his mind.

“Every inch of her.” He repeated from Derek’s earlier words, Astrid stopped packing and gave him a questioning look. Hiccup laid the papers down once more before continuing, “This guy, Rosko, wanted to see every inch of her. If this really is some sort of organization, don’t you think there’s something procedural about all this?”

“Like… he needed to see her body for some reason?” Astrid questioned. Hiccup shrugged.

“It’s just-” He sighed. “All this evidence is pointing to  _ something _ . The pictures, gaining her trust, the receipt from a casino  _ known _ for being the hotspot when it comes to criminal activity.”

Astrid took it all in, keeping her eyes low. Her voice was soft when she spoke next, “Well, if we found out anything, it’s the reason why Jasmine was so eager to believe who she was talking to was really Debbie.”

Hiccup looked to her with a quirked brow, she continued, “She was in an emotional state after that day, with all the fighting and pain of losing a friend. Hell, I’d probably fall for it too.” She said as she finished packing the items, slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

The agents got the usual strange looks from people in the hallways, though it wasn’t between classes this time, making the glances easier to dismiss. As they reached the edge of the building, they were able to view the outside scenery from the large glass doors. To their utmost pleasure, it had begun pouring rain while they were in the interrogation.

“Perfect.” Astrid sounded, shoulders dropping at the sight. Hiccup could barely make out six feet in front of them, forget the parking lot. “You didn’t happen to bring your umbrella, did you?” She asked him.

“Um, I think I left it at HQ.” He admitted.

She sighed, “Alright.” They then both stepped outside the doors, still covered below the vast canopy in front of the main entrance, they stepped to the edge of it.

“You’re some badass FBI interrogator, and you’re afraid of a little rain.” Hiccup said with a smile, bunching up his jacket best he could to cover himself.

“I’m not  _ scared  _ of it, I’m just not used to it.”

“Uh huh, you’re not scared.” He said, becoming very still. “So, you wouldn’t be opposed to racing me to the car.”

“Wha-”

“Let’s go!” He exclaimed, tapping her on the shoulder as he ran past her form and into the rain. Astrid wore a shocked expression for a brief moment, then hesitantly began to run after him. “Hiccup Haddock! You’re insane!” She yelled over the downpour. Water soaked through her outerwear, hair becoming heavy as she continued to stride towards the crowded vehicles of the blacktop. Trying her best to keep the messenger bag she wore tucked under her arm, shielding it from the water. She nearly tripped as she reached the parking lot.

“Ah shit!.” Astrid heard over the rain, as she got closer to where her vehicle was parked, she saw Hiccup’s form furiously tugging at the door handle. “You didn’t unlock it?!”

When she saw this, she laughed maniacally to herself, then slowed her pace to a walk, still about 10 paces from the car. Ultimately deciding that taking on the water was worth watching her partner in misery as he was.

“You’re evil!” He yelled at her, she laughed, loud enough for him to hear this time. Though the rain clouded her vision, she saw the evident smile painted across his face, eyes slightly hidden through the the dark, wet hair that now fell over his face. As she made it to the driver’s side door, she took the keys from her pocket and held them up for Hiccup’s viewing, like an owner showing their dog a treat. He shook his head, still giving her a devilish grin.

She finally showed him mercy, pressing the button that unlocked the car. The two hurriedly got inside and slammed the doors behind them, panting after the long run. Both looked as if they’d just been submerged, water soaking into their hair, and all articles of clothing. Hiccup took a few moments to look around through the car windows beginning to become thick with mist, and with no context, he began to lightly chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Astrid asked, still catching her breath.

Hiccup shook his head once more, “I’m just imagining the kids that happened to be looking in our direction.” He said, pointing back to the building. Through the gray downpour, she saw a row of small windows lining the building next to the pathway they just ran down. Clearly connected to a multitude of classrooms.

“Oh my Gods.” She said, letting her head fall into her hands with embarrassment. “Good thing we left our mark as the  _ professional  _ FBI agents.”

“Hey, if I’ve learned anything in my twenty-three years, there are two things you can never count on. Weather, and Snotlout’s ability to read social cues.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” She asked sarcastically, taking the messenger bag from her lap and twisting her body to place it in the backseat. As she did this, Hiccup noticed she became very still, hand still extended into the backside of the vehicle.

“What is it?” He asked.

She said nothing, just fumbled around her arm as she moved to pick up something. Gingerly, she pulled a sleek, black umbrella from the backseat. The two stared at the object belonging to Hiccup, then they met each other’s eyes. Astrid’s mouth still slightly agape.

Odin himself could likely hear the pair’s laughter from his throne in Valhalla.

 

oOo

 

“So then! Tell me all about it.” Gobber demanded enthusiastically. The man was currently sitting at Hiccup’s small dining table placed on the one barren wall of his kitchen, he looked so large compared to the little wooden thing.

Hiccup had driven home that night to see the mechanic’s truck parked in his driveway, identical to how it had been the week before. With all the field work he’d been doing over the past eight days, he’d had no time to return the man’s messages. So Gobber, taking the situation upon himself as per usual, decided to pay another visit.

“It’s… nice finally having something to do.” Hiccup responded, putting away dishes he’d left out that morning. The loud clatters had attracted the attention of Toothless, who’d jumped on the counter in front of his owner. Hiccup smiled, scratching him under the chin.

“Yeah yeah, but wha’ about the details? Ya’ get into any Bond shootouts or murder mysteries?”

“You know I can’t tell you about the specifics.” Hiccup said, glancing over his shoulder at the man. “I could lose my job.”

“Ahh, come on!” Gobber exclaimed, “Wha’ do you think I’m gonna do? Run off, spouting yer’ top secret stories to every one of my clients or somethin’?”

“Yes, Gobber, that’s exactly what I think you’d do.” Hiccup replied, picking up Toothless and giving the man a very accusing glare. “That’s what you did the time I told you I’d lost my virginity.”

Gobber’s laughter boomed through the little house, he slapped his hand on the table from pure amusement. Hiccup, however, being the source of the embarrassment, was far from amused. When his unimpressed glare didn’t falter, Gobber opened his mouth to speak, still fighting off laughter in the process.

“ _ Ah-ha-ha, _ can ya’ really blame me?! I was just proud of ma’ boy!” He said, gesturing wildly to Hiccup. Then, Gobber’s voice suddenly got less harsh. “Well, if yer’ not gonna talk about work, how  _ is _ it going in that department?” He asked, blinking his eyes rapidly in mock-attraction.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, “Same as the last five-hundred times you’ve pressed me about it, Gobber-”

A noise suddenly interrupted the men’s conversation, Hiccup instantly recognized it as a light  _ knocking _ at the front door. Toothless jumped from his owner’s arms, running towards the source. Hiccup stood still for a few seconds, wondering who on Earth it could be.

“Ya’ didn’t tell me yer’ expecting visitors.” Gobber accused, staying seated as Hiccup eventually moved past him, walking towards the front door.

“That’s because I wasn’t, and… even if I was, you’re not exactly an  _ expected _ visitor yourself.”

“Fair enough.”

As Hiccup made it to the door, he steadily grabbed the knob and opened it to reveal the person in question.

“Astrid?”

He stood dead in his spot at the reveal of the individual, she wore a small smile on her face. Still dressed in her issued jacket, her hair had gone from somewhat untidy that morning, to full on puffy and wild from the rainwater it took on during their misadventure to the car. One of her hands hid something behind her back, out of Hiccup’s view.

“Uh, hey!” She said, trying to sound as friendly as possible. Though, something about her demeanor implied a hint of nervousness. “I don’t mean to show up unannounced or anything, but I was on my way home and, um, you left  _ this _ in my car… again.”

Hiccup’s eyes widened as she pulled his umbrella from behind her back. He laughed.

“Oh.. Oh, Gods, Astrid. You didn’t have to come all the way here just to give me this.” He protested, taking the object from her hands.

“It was on the way, really, it’s no big deal.” She replied shyly, fiddling with what remained of her braid. “I also, um, wanted to give you something else too.”

Hiccup’s look of confusion was soon shut down by her next actions. She suddenly stepped close to him, slid her hands up his chest to land on his shoulders, and pressed her lips against his.

His eyes grew wide, brain ceasing to function for the first few moments of the kiss. But after the haze of shock faded, he melted into her lips. He dropped the umbrella to the side, eyes closing and hands finding her slim waist. Time suddenly went still, the only sensations he registered was the feeling of her soft lips against his, and the thumping of his erratic heartbeat within his chest.

After a lovely eternity passed, she pulled away from his mouth. Leaning back slightly, but close enough to still be encompassed by his embrace. The light Hiccup would momentarily see within her blue eyes was brighter than he’d seen thus far. A sweet, innocent smile shone on her face between crimson-turning cheeks. Hiccup wasn’t sure what his expression read, but he also  didn’t know if any expression could possibly portray the joyous feeling that pulsated through his chest. Astrid blinked a few times, then stepped away from his embrace, awkwardly brushing hair from her eyes as she glanced to her car.

“I-I should get going.”

Hiccup must’ve looked completely awestruck. But without hesitation, he quickly nodded.

“Okay.” He replied, voice shaky.

“Bye, Hiccup.” She almost laughed, then turned to head off, walking awkwardly fast towards her car.

Hiccup wasn’t sure how long he stood there after he waved to her driving away, but when he snapped back to reality, he allowed himself to smile. Truly smile. Still processing the situation, the man closed the front door softly, then turned and rested his back against it. Eyes closed, repeating the events in his head. When he finally opened them, the first image he was met with was Gobber, standing still in the archway of the kitchen, blank expression on his face.

Hiccup had all but forgotten the man’s presence until just then, after a few moments of silence, the large man suddenly shook the house with his voice.

“IN THE NAME OF VALHALLA! From my lips to Odin’s ears!”

Hiccup felt his cheeks turn hot as the man laughed in joy, giving him a scowl and shaking his head, he then looked to his black cat; who had been sitting on the side table mere feet away from the front door, no doubt witnessing the whole situation. Toothless blinked large eyes at his owner.

“Oh, what are you looking at?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't have much time to edit this, so I apologize for any mistakes I missed. The past week I've had finals and moving out of my dorm, so it's been really crazy. Hopefully the Hiccstrid development was gradual enough for this chapter, and it didn't feel forced. Also MAJOR story announcement... I have good news and bad news.
> 
> Bad news:
> 
> I'm leaving for Army Basic Training tomorrow morning, I'll have no access to the internet for about 80 days, and I wont be able to continue this story until at earliest October of this year. I'm really sorry to all the readers, I tried to get as much of it completed as I could before leaving, but it's been an insane semester on it's own.
> 
> Good news:
> 
> This story is NOT over! I will not abandon it. I've completely opted out of going-nowhere fanfics before, and I care about this one wayyy too much to simply do that. If you're interested in continuing reading this story when I update it in October, I recommend following it.
> 
> I tried to leave you guys on a happy moment, and I want to thank all of you who've read this far. I really appreciate it. See you in October :)


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